Let Them Love and Fear Me
by helenheaven
Summary: 'A descendant has arisen, greater and more powerful than all who came before her...' A dark AU with a wicked OC and some old favourites too... Not to be missed.
1. Sirius and Evangeline

**Author's Note: I know I know, no one wants to read a story with original characters, I'm sorry. I swear you will like them, or at least enjoy reading about them. This first chapter is a prequel, the rest of the story continues throughout our favourite character's time at Hogwarts during Voldemort's second rise to power. And by favourite characters I mean Draco Malfoy, obviously!**

 **Disclaimer: J.k. Rowling owns the Harry Potter books; I own my original characters and situations.**

Chapter one – Sirius and Evangeline

Evangeline wore a dress the colour of rose petals but on her face there was etched a deep scowl.

"I don't understand why I must constantly be left here, alone!" She cried with a scowl.

Her grandparents were once again going away for an undisclosed period of time. It irritated her beyond belief that she wasn't allowed some measure of freedom whilst they were absent.

"You are young and irresponsible, and you should keep your nose out of other people's business!" said Gail, the greying old woman that Evangeline unwillingly called Grandmother.

Gail was not usually so angry, she normally managed to keep a cool head when Evangeline threw one of her tantrums but tonight she had been pushed to the limits. She was already filled with a deep sense of unease when her mind turned to the week ahead and she didn't need her silly granddaughter acting like a spoiled brat! Though Evangeline was far from spoiled, Gail thought ruefully. They lived meagrely in a tiny cottage in the middle of nowhere, not the kind of life she would have envisaged for a teenage girl but there was nothing they could do. It was a dangerous world they lived in and Evangeline was in more danger than most, if only she knew.

Storming up the stairs to her tiny attic bedroom, Evangeline threw herself on the bed with a shriek of frustration. She couldn't stay in this house any more, not when she was alone, friendless with no body to talk to. Not even her jailers, her grandparents were here all the time. Away on important business was the excuse they gave but if they were so important than why did they live out here with nothing?

Evangeline ignored her grandparents when they shouted their goodbyes up the stairs and lay still for a long time basking in her despair. She had no knowledge of her parents other than the fact that she was dumped upon her grandparents when her mother had died in childbirth. Overall, Evangeline didn't have much to complain about, she was well looked after, fed, clothed and educated by her grandmother as best as she could but for Evangeline's spirited and often wild nature, it was nowhere near enough.

Therefore, it was unfortunate that Evangeline never knew how hard her grandparents tried to protect her. How fiercely they fought to keep her existence a secret, and how they were to pay for this fight with their lives.

Two weeks passed and Evangeline grew exceedingly restless, her grandparents had not returned from wherever they had been and she could smell freedom lingering in the air. Finally, on a sunny summer morning, Evangeline made the decision to pack a bag, write a note for her grandparents should they ever return, and left.

she made her way down the road to where she knew there was the village of Godric's Hollow, although she had never been allowed to venture anywhere near it. It was a long walk of several hours and Evangeline stopped to rest on the outskirts. To her surprise, out of nowhere a large, shaggy black dog appeared and continued walking down the road, he had no owner that Evangeline could see and intrigued, she followed it.

In the town, the dog trotted confidently between the houses until it suddenly vanished. Evangeline blinked thinking she had missed it turn into a doorway but there wasn't much in this area and the cottages were quite far apart. At a loss for what to do next in her grand plan of escape, she sat on a bench and basked in the afternoon sun, she was startled from her almost-nap by a man sitting down beside her.

Before she could fully rouse herself, he turned to her.

"Are you following me?" He asked in a stern voice.

Evangeline didn't even get a chance to exclaim that she had never seen him before because she had looked at the man properly and was completely blown away by his features. He had strong, chiselled cheekbones and wavy dark hair framing his grey eyes that pierced her to the very core. Pulling herself together, she put her nose in the air.

"I have never seen you before in my life!" She exclaimed.

"But you knew I was the dog? You were following me closely; I must ask what you know of this place? Who do you work for?"

The man was questioning her persistently and Evangeline became quite flustered.

"If you must know I followed a dog because it was the first living being I had seen in a long time, when it disappeared I sat down because... well I don't quite know what else to do now!" She admitted shame faced, trust her escape to be felled at the first hurdle.

"Where on earth should I go?" She muttered to herself distractedly.

The handsome man seemed satisfied with the answer but asked if she wouldn't mention seeing him in his animagus form, as he wasn't, strictly speaking, supposed to be using it. She then had to admit she didn't know what he was talking about and it all became a bit too much for her, newly released from her jail as she liked to think of it and now she couldn't even make conversation! The man laughed at her distress and told her his name was Sirius and she shouldn't get so upset over nothing.

"So you're a muggle then?" He asked. "I may have to wipe your memory, you probably shouldn't know about all these things."

Evangeline didn't know what he was talking about but one bit appealed to her.

"Wipe my memory?" she cried, "Oh please do! Give me a fresh start; I don't want to remember living all the way up there" she gestured to the distant hills where the cottage was situated, "never knowing what was happening in the outside world with Grandmother and Grandfather always away never telling me anything!" She finished in a rush of breath before noticing that Sirius was looking at her oddly.

"Up there live only Gail and John Merryweather, acquaintances of mine. Do you know them?"

"Why yes!" she replied. "That's who I'm talking about, my grandparents!" Sirius's face darkened and taking Evangeline's hand in his he looked into her eyes and told her of her grandparent's death. Evangeline hardly registered it at first, she was so busy gazing into those endless grey pools but suddenly she realised what he was saying. It frightened her slightly that she didn't seem to feel much emotion at the news; Sirius seemed to think she was in shock. He was talking about their work for something called The Order and how she should be proud but Evangeline didn't understand any of it. Eventually she reluctantly drew her hand away and asked Sirius if he knew how they had died.

"But don't you understand?" He exclaimed. "They were killed in their work by the followers of You Know Who, It was a tragedy but they were aware of the risks and had wholly dedicated their lives to the cause. None of us had any idea about you but I suppose they did that to keep you safe."

Something flickered in Evangeline's mind, keep her safe, was that what her grandparents had been doing? However, that didn't explain everything else that this man was talking about, she couldn't piece it all together. She told him so and with dawning recognition and shock, Sirius realised that Evangeline knew nothing of the world in which she was certainly part of.

Sirius felt a great burden of responsibility suddenly descend upon his shoulders. He could have this girl delivered to someone in The Order who know how to deal with this, but they were all so busy and he didn't want to cause the girl anymore confusion, of course it helped somewhat that she was utterly, breathtakingly beautiful. Making a split second decision, he stood and extended his hand to her.

"Come with me, we will go somewhere and talk about this and I will explain to you who you are and what your grandparents have been hiding from you for your whole life."

Slowly Evangeline rose, taking his hand and knowing she would follow him without question wherever he would go.

* * *

Sirius made the decision to apparate himself and Evangeline, he knew it would probably shock her but he was going to explain everything anyway and it really was the quickest way of travelling. He was right in thinking it would shock her, she screamed into his ear the whole way, but it was with a start that, when he landed, he saw her eyes had lit up with a wild abandon and delirious look of joy, and it was then that he knew she would accept whatever he told her without question.

Sirius was right in thinking this, Evangeline took to the knowledge that her grandparents had been both a witch and a wizard and therefore that would make her a witch, with a certain amount of grace. She asked intelligent questions wherever she felt confused and otherwise listened intently, occasionally exclaiming such things as, "oh that was why she..." And, "I knew there was something going on!"

When they had first arrived at Grimmauld Place Sirius was worried he had got it wrong and she wouldn't be able to see the house, but she gasped in awe at the imposing building and could barely keep her head on her shoulders, her neck was snapping from side to side so much, taking everything in within the house. The day turned into evening and evening turned into night and still the two continued their discussion. When Sirius felt he had told her everything there was still more she wanted to know. They both decided that it was strange that she had shown no magical ability at all throughout her childhood.

"Even muggleborn children admit that strange things have happened to them," Sirius said, "and you should have received your letter from Hogwarts, even if no one knew you existed your grandparents couldn't hide you from your letter!"

What he said was true and it was with great trepidation that Evangeline took Sirius's wand in her hands and attempted to make something happen. It was no use, there appeared to be no magic inside her, no matter how hard she thought and how much she waved the piece of wood around her head.

Unwilling to see her saddened Sirius came up with as many ideas as he could as to why this might happen.

"We should go to Ollivanders and try different wands, maybe your mind is just too closed to the idea of magic and my wand finds that too rigid, I don't know how it works but someone in Diagon Alley definitely will," he said firmly, and on that note Sirius showed her to an upstairs room where he said she was welcome to stay as long as she wanted, he disliked the house anyway and would not be there for much of the time.

Evangeline retired to bed, excitement coursing through her veins. She had kept a level head as much as possible with Sirius and had tried to stay as calm as she could but inside she was screaming, "I knew there was more to life, I just knew it!" The only thing that dampened her spirits was her lack of magic and the fact that Sirius had said he wouldn't be around that much. At that moment she wanted to be near him constantly and, even after such a short acquaintance, she felt like she never wanted to be parted from him.

The next day Sirius took her to Diagon Alley. Although the trip was a success and Evangeline loved looking in the shops and meeting all sorts of interesting people their mission did fail. Ollivander barely had to look at Evangeline holding a wand before he declared her definitely a squib possessing little or no magical ability. It was a blow but Sirius cheered her up by taking her to the Magical Menagerie where he bought her a cat. The beautiful creature was as black as midnight and very regal in stature; Evangeline loved him and named him Hex. Sirius had owled Dumbledore who had been keeping some of the Merryweather's personal effects and it was due to this that Evangeline now had her Grandparent Gringotts vault key. With the money that she accessed she bought a very basic potions book and a small cauldron with a few ingredients, there were some potions that did not require a wand and it was there that she would start trying to harness what little magic she might posses. She also bought some witches robes so as to fit in.

Sirius had told her all about You Know Who, how his power had no limits and the way that he was slowly taking over the whole of the wizarding world but it was difficult for Evangeline to comprehend it. True, the shops seemed quite empty and drab and the people on the streets hurried about their business looking furtively over their shoulders but she felt safe with Sirius and did not find it too unnerving. They were lucky enough to run into one of Sirius's good friends, Remus Lupin, and Sirius invited him back to Grimmauld place for dinner. Once there Evangeline busied herself making some food, she knew she had to be useful and if she couldn't do magic she may as well be house keeper, anything was better than the existence she had led before. It did occur to her, as she stood alone stirring the stew pot, that she should by now have felt some sadness over her grandparent's demise. However, the feelings of hopelessness and grief did not overwhelm her, it made her a bit worried but she tried to brush it off. It was, of course, unfortunate they had died but she took to heart what Sirius had said about them dying for a cause and hoped that the lack of emotion she was feeling was due to the strength of character they must have passed on to her.

Upstairs Remus and Sirius were deep in conversation.

"You can't just leave her alone in this house with no magic while you go running off to goodness knows where!" exclaimed Remus.

Sirius had just informed him of his intention to let Evangeline stay if she wanted too. However it seemed as though he had not exactly though it through.

"The place isn't that dangerous" he replied, "and anyway I would come back as often as possible but I have to go and do my duty, and I need to keep visiting Lilly and James. Its Harry's birthday next week and they're still shut up in Godric's Hollow probably bored out of their minds!"

Remus sighed and agreed they would both need to visit the Potters more often but the house was still not in any fit state for habitation.

"There's an entire doxy colony living in those curtains for starters Sirius!" He exclaimed, hoping that Sirius would see sense. He did, to a degree and they decided that Evangeline would be warned of the rooms that were off limits and that Sirius would stay with her as much as possible and help her to find a place in their world. Then they went down to the kitchen and had a lovely evening, Sirius even found that Evangeline was a great cook and any trepidation he had felt at playing babysitter melted away as he watched her talk and laugh with Remus, she really was exceptionally beautiful. The time spent with her, he reasoned, might not be so bad after all.

Over the next few days Sirius and Evangeline had a brilliant time together, he told himself that he was helping her get past the sadness she must feel over her change in circumstances and she was ecstatic just being around him. Sirius showed her several spells and made her laugh when he transfigured the tea set into various dancing mice. He told her all about Hogwarts, the Wizarding School, and how he had met his close friends there, James, Remus and Peter. Evangeline listened transfixed; she wished she could have gone to Hogwarts, it sounded fascinating. She tried not to be disappointed but it did sometimes well up within her and then Sirius would tell her more stories to cheer her up. She sometimes found herself squeezing out a few tears so that Sirius would hug her and she relished these moments, everything was all too perfect.

It didn't take long for the two of them to realise their mutual attraction, although Sirius did not seem to suspect how utterly smitten Evangeline was with him. He did not go to visit the Potters for Harry's Birthday and instead sent a present by owl because Evangeline had begged him not to leave her, so soon after everything had happened to her. He found her charming, intelligent and with a fierce determination that impressed him, it also helped that she had long brown hair that rippled around him whenever they grew close and her green eyes blinked up at him through long, thick lashes.

Evangeline knew she could not let Sirius know that she had fallen madly in love with him, he was a few years older than her at twenty-one and she didn't think he would feel the same way about a silly teenager. Instead, she did her best to make him attracted to everything about her, and she hopped that he would fall under her spell. One evening when they sat in front of the fire Sirius looked over at her, she was practicing with his wand, over and over, but still no sparks nor anything vaguely magical had appeared. He smiled to himself, so much determination when faced with certain defeat; he reached over and gently took the wand from her hand.

"You don't need it Evangeline," he murmured. "You're perfect just the way you are."

In that moment she really believed him and she let herself melt into his arms as though it was the most natural place to be in the world.

Many weeks past. Evangeline busied herself with keeping Sirius fed and keeping what rooms they used clean and tidy whilst Sirius slowly began his work for the Order again. The only thing that changed was at night when Sirius would take her hand and guide her up to his room and they would sleep entwined together in the darkness. It was the night of Halloween when her small world was turned upside-down forever. Sirius was in the kitchen when a spectral being suddenly appeared in the room startling Evangeline out of her wits. It didn't end there, the patronus; for that was what it was, spoke to the room.

"Potters dead. You Know Who defeated!" And with that it disappeared.

Evangeline looked at Sirius; his face was a mask of agony. Rising in one fluid movement, his chair crashed to the ground in his haste.

"That was Mooney's patronus, I must go," he said in a voice that was hard and cold with no emotion.

Within seconds he was gone in a whirl of his cloak. Evangeline stood still for a long time, she was unsure what this meant, if the dark lord was vanquished who was there for Sirius to seek revenge on, what was there to do but mourn and move on? Surely he would return once he had seen the other members of The Order and confirmed the tragedy? Evangeline decided that he would be home shortly and would want consoling and with that she gathered Hex onto her lap and sat down to wait. She thought she had the perfect news that would distract him, she had been about to tell him that evening but she knew it would keep. For nine months it would keep, she thought, smiling down at her stomach which would not be flat for much longer.

But Sirius did not return. She fell asleep in an awkward position on a kitchen chair and, having been up most of the night, did not awaken till early afternoon when there was a loud crack in the hallway.

"Sirius?"

She shouted as she awoke with a start and dashed up the stairs. It wasn't Sirius it was Remus, and she had never seen him look so defeated.

"Evangeline I- I have some bad news," he began, "perhaps we should sit down...?"

"No" she said, "no tell me now, tell me!" She exclaimed as he took a deep breath.

Lupin's words washed over her, they could not be true, it had to be some awful dream, some terrifying nightmare that she would wake up from if she just pinched herself enough. She heard a scream that sounded very far away and as Lupin's face loomed over her she descended into darkness. The next few days were torture, she couldn't eat she couldn't sleep she roamed the house tearing at her hair and filling herself with every ounce of anger and hatred she could muster, she knew that she must seek revenge. She knew that Sirius had not done what he had been accused of; no way could it have been he who murdered his best friend Peter and all those innocent muggles. This was a conspiracy, a sham and they would pay. All those who said they witnessed him blasting half the street apart, all those who sentenced him to life in Azkaban without trial, and all those who were once his friends and had now turned their backs on him. There would be no mercy, for they had shown him none.

Evangeline used her thirst for revenge to hide from her overwhelming grief. She roamed the streets of Diagon alley asking anyone she met if they could stand with her to clear Sirius's name. She wrote to the Minister for Magic and sent it by owl post, and then she wrote ten letters a day just to the Ministry demanding help, demanding that they release him, all to no avail. She realised that the people didn't want to know, the Dark Lord was defeated, so what if an innocent man had been sent to jail, it was all over now. She was consumed by a bitter, unending rage, these people with their magic and their superiority would do nothing for her and she hated them for it, for leaving her so helpless. She retreated to Grimmauld place, made it her lair and denied anyone access to the house for the next eleven years.


	2. The Twins

**I am not going to repeat the disclaimer; it applies to the entire story.**

 **I would also like to say that I am an only child and all situations regarding sibling and twin relationships are purely my imagination and are not meant to be taken to heart or to be offensive to those who are a twin and think they would never behave in this way.**

 **Ooh a second chapter, aren't you lucky! I thought I would post two chapters in honour of this day, which is the day I finally begin to publish this story which has been in the works for many, many years. That's not a tear in my eye, shut up! *sobbing***

* * *

Chapter Two – The Twins

Eight Years Later

Zabrina Black opened her eyes on her eighth birthday knowing that today would be a good day. In the bed in the room next door, her twin brother, Tommy, had also just awakened. They always did that, waking up at the same moment; it was one of their strange ways that went with them being twins. They also became hungry at once, angry at once and sad at once, although there was not much sympathy from their mother for any of these emotions. She believed they should stand on their own two, very separate feet and learn to be apart as much as they could for it would serve them better in later life. It was a good idea but one that was rather hard to put into practice. As the twins made their way downstairs for their birthday breakfast they had to pass many boarded up doors, their mother said they were like that for everyone's safety and although the twins were curious they never went against their mother.

It was a happy breakfast and they both received new pens which would be useful for the classes that they had around the kitchen table. Every day their mother would teach them reading, writing, arithmetic and science just the way she had been taught. They also received chocolates and some books which they were very happy with, they knew to never ask their mother for anything because they were poor and should be grateful for everything they received. It was not that their mother was mean to them, far from it, but they knew that she had a terrible temper and they found her very rigid and serious. Without ever voicing it, they knew to always keep her happy and to always do as she said.

Evangeline had changed over the years, the birth of her beautiful twins had been easy but the emotions she had felt had not been so. When her twins had first been laid in her arms they had put their tiny hands together and several sparks had shot up into the air. Fortunately, the muggle nurses in the hospital had not seen but she knew then that her children were special and different from her and that there was a gulf between them that could never be breached. She tried to not let the raging anger and fire that boiled within her overtake her feeling for the twins, this led to her uptight nature and frequent spells where she could not find it in herself to get out of bed and face another day looking at the products of so much sadness and hurt. She hid and boarded up any trace of magic in the house and after withdrawing money from Gringotts and having it changed to muggle money she never again set foot in the wizarding world, her children did not know of it. Since their birth she had not seen any signs off magic from them so she put off ever having to tell them of their origins. Until their eighth birthday that is.

Zabrina and Tommy were playing together quietly in the upstairs corridor. Their mother did not like them playing there, all the paintings were covered throughout the house and it made the corridors a gloomy place to linger but the twins were being very quiet and hoped she would not notice. Suddenly Tommy threw the ball they were tossing much harder than before and it soared over Zabrina's head and hit a curtained painting on the far wall. With a swish the curtains flew open and an angry, ancient old lady began screaming that they had disturbed her peace. Terrified the twins shrieked and promptly found themselves transported to an upstairs bathroom.

It was after this incident that their mother sat them down and told them everything. The twins listened carefully and took in all that she said about the magical world, she did shorten it significantly however telling them nothing of their father or what had happened to him. At the end only Zabrina had a question.

" But mother, surely if you tried really hard you could do magic? I don't want to do it if you can't!" Her mother only glared at her.

" I don't want to do magic Zabrina." She replied sternly. "It is evil and brings nothing but trouble, I don't want it in the house and I don't want to mix with those that can do it do you hear me?"

And the twins did hear her. Any funny thing that happened to them from that moment on they neglected to tell her, they had each other anyway and they knew that it would only upset their mother. They both agreed that everything that she did was to protect them from magic and from the outside world and therefore grew a little ashamed of their growing abilities and tried to ignore and repress them as much as possible.

That is how these two children were less than enthusiastic when, three years later on their eleventh birthday, they received their Hogwarts letters.

* * *

Zabrina gazed out of the train window as it made its slow and winding way through the countryside. She thought back over the previous weeks, their mother had said she was very proud of them when they received their letters; she had said that she knew they would always be good and strong and not act like others who might be less worthy, in her opinion, of holding a wand. Zabrina took this to heart, she had magic and she couldn't change that even to please her mother but she was going to work harder than anyone and be the best so that she could show her mother that magic wasn't all bad. Whatever had happened to her mother, and she knew there must be something, she would show her that they didn't have to be ashamed of their abilities and they were actually useful and helpful. She didn't know if it would help much, their mother being the way she was, but Zabrina was optimistic.

Since they had discovered the existence of the magical world their mother had been less strict at keeping them away from it, she allowed them to uncover some of the less volatile paintings and the twins loved to watch their inhabitants move within the frames. Evangeline had also brought out several books and studied them in the evenings when the twins were supposed to be in bed. When Zabrina snuck one away to look at she saw that it was a book on wizard genealogy, she flicked through it until she came across her mother's name, Merryweather, and she knew that her mother was finally trying to find out about her past. This made Zabrina quite angry at first because she and Tommy knew nothing about their own history, but instead of making a fuss the twins set off to find out as much as they could. It proved to be quite an easy task now that they knew what they were looking for. The Black family tree adorned the wall of one of the boarded up rooms, the twins were surprised and excited to find their own names written upon it. However, the black spot where their fathers name should have been was rather disappointing. Although the room had been boarded up all that Zabrina had to do was close her eyes and imagine the boards back up and when she opened them they were! Their mother was either unaware or turned a blind eye to the twins exploration of their history and the two parties carried out their secret endeavours without ever crossing paths with the other.

Evangeline had, in fact made quite allot of headway in her research, she had started it many years before but it had spluttered to a halt in recent times. It had come to her one day as she lay in bed filled with melancholy that her own mother had never actually been a mother. She then thought that it might explain why she, Evangeline, was the way that she was. If she were to find out about her parents it might make her feel as though she had more of an identity, all she had ever been told was that they were dead, her mother having died in childbirth. She had found within her Grandparents vault in Gringotts a locked box, which had begun her search for answers. Upon opening it fully at home she found a wand, a small painting of a woman who looked just like her and several letters to someone named Tommy. The letters were love letters that had clearly never been sent, filled with longing and sadness and pain, much like Evangeline's own love life. Her mother's name had been Zabrina and upon presuming the letters had been to her father, she therefore named her children after her parents. Now that her children were growing up and becoming interested in their heritage, Evangeline returned to the difficult task she had set herself of uncovering her origins. It gave her something to focus on that was not her duties as a mother or her resentment of the outside world, it gave her hope.

On the Hogwarts express Zabrina had dozed off, when she awoke it was due to the arrival of several voices and upon opening her eyes she saw that her brother had made some new friends. All the boys were in their Hogwarts robes and had their wands out trying to make a chocolate frog catch fire, it did not seem like they were getting anywhere, especially as they kept substituting words in the spell for ruder ones and bursting into laughter. She sighed and turned away, her fingers straying to her own wand which was hidden up her sleeve. It had been her grandmothers apparently; her mother had given it to her the night before they were to go to Diagon alley to purchase their school things.

"You share her name and I think this bond will make this wand do great things for you," Evangeline had said.

Zabrina did not feel resentful that Tommy got to go to Ollivanders and get a brand new wand that chose him, she knew the minute her hand touched the dark cherry wood that her wand was part of her, and the two of them became one.

She had read up as much as possible about Hogwarts in the months prior to their arrival and she felt she was prepared, the only thing that bothered her was that she did not feel a particular affiliation to any of the houses, Tommy had immediately said he wanted them to be in Gryffindor because he liked lions and it seemed the best and she had agreed because they always did everything together but with this decision she lacked conviction for the first time. She tried to put it out of her mind, she knew it was not in her hands to decide but still the thought niggled at her that she should feel more inclined towards at least one, and a certain resentment to the one called Slytherin because that appeared to be the general consensus from everyone else. Pushing her thoughts out of her mind she opened her trunk and put on her robes and then, swishing her long black hair out of her bright green eyes she slipped her wand out of her sleeve and set the frog on fire, she then extinguished it before the startled boys had even registered what was happening and sat back down.

"Now can we have some peace?"

She glared at them and sullenly they left the carriage. It was the first time the twins ever felt discord arising between them. Tommy was angry that she had pushed his new friends away and she couldn't see why he would want to mess around like that.

"We tried the spells at home Tommy and you can do them just as well as me!"

She exclaimed but he just ignored her and turned away, she began to wonder just how close their bond as twins would stretch once they reached Hogwarts.

Standing in the queue to be sorted Zabrina looked around the great hall in wonder, there were so many students, all so much older and wiser than her yet she didn't feel intimidated, she felt instead a great sense of belonging and an even greater thirst to prove herself. All she wanted at that moment was to show them what she was made of. Tommy's name was called first, as he moved towards the stool a low murmur rumbled around the hall and she knew it was because of their surname. Black was an ancient wizarding family and she doubted anyone knew that there were children of Hogwarts age bearing that name, it only increased her sense of pride. Her brother was sorted into Gryffindor, she barley had a moment to smile at him and nod when he whispered "see you there" and gestured to the Gryffindor table, grinning at her as she made her way to the stool.

It wasn't until the hat came down over her eyes that she suddenly knew without hesitation where she was supposed to be, it barely occurred to her to think of her brother as she made her way to the Slytherin table, she felt the great sense of achievement and belonging that had been missing up till now, she knew this was meant to be. It wasn't until she caught her shocked brother's eye and realised that for the first time ever they were truly separated that she felt any pang of regret.

Zabrina quickly became the best in her year. It happened naturally, her magic was powerful, she was sharp, and quick, nothing needed to be repeated to her and she frequently mastered spells on the first try. She kept to herself, however, not flaunting her brilliance and barely ever speaking up in class. It wasn't her way. She had little time for the frivolities of her fellow classmates and surrounded herself with few friends, the ones she chose were fellow book lovers and their most frequented meeting place was the library. Zabrina found that teachers were slightly astounded by her abilities, she almost intimidated them and it was through this that she became the youngest pupil to gain access to the restricted section, without breaking any rules of course.

However, it was not always plain sailing. Her brother, for instance, had surrounded himself with a loyal group of Gryffindors and no longer had anything to do with his sister. They grew so far apart that Zabrina always stayed at school for the holidays whilst her brother went to stay with one of his many friends, they were only ever in each other's presence when their mother summoned them. This was a rare occurrence anyway as their mother was frequently kept busy travelling. Zabrina suspected that she was still occupying herself researching her family history.

Over time, Zabrina grew, quietly, into an astounding witch. She knew that her power and knowledge greatly outstripped half the school, let alone her own year but she preferred to keep this to herself, and hardly ever outshone others in class. Her only difficulty was with a boy in her house who seemed to have taken an instant dislike to her. Draco Malfoy was cruel and heartless, delighting in the torment of others. Zabrina scorned him to begin with, finding him brash and common in his outright dislike of those of lesser blood. Malfoy had appeared to notice this difference in her and took to asking loudly whenever Zabrina was in the vicinity whether anyone smelled a Hufflepuff nearby. Zabrina ignored him as best as she could but it irritated her greatly, she knew she could squash that idiot's smirk right into his idiotic face with one flick of her wand but she restrained herself. There would be plenty of time to prove herself and she didn't need anyone standing in the way of that, as though anyone could even try.

It wasn't until Zabrina's third year that things between her and Malfoy came to a head. It was Christmas and the night of the Yule Ball. Zabrina had not been asked to be anyone's date, balls didn't interest her anyway, and when she returned to the common room later that evening after several hours in the library, she found it filled with students in a state of high frivolity. Malfoy was at the centre of it; he had bewitched a statue to dance in a lewd manor and was forcing sleepy looking first years to dance with it in order to pass to their dormitories. Zabrina had been aiming for her dormitory too but when she made to pass, Malfoy blocked the way with his arm shouting,

"You have to pay the price too Black, dance a little dance and then you can run off back to your books!"

There were sniggers at this and all eyes were upon Zabrina to watch her humiliate herself. She knew that this was a crucial moment, if she were to undermine and humiliate Malfoy then this boring nitwit would never cease in his annoying torture, however if she was to best him and earn his respect then there was a chance that he may leave her alone.

With a flick of her wand, she immobilized the statue. She saw the shock register in their eyes, her wand had not previously been in her hand and she had not needed to utter a word in order to cast the spell, Newt level magic most definitely. Flicking her wand again she vanished, transfiguring herself into a roaring serpent. She made sure to smile a wide smile at Malfoy before she disappeared. Everyone gasped as the serpent slid across the floor and slithered up Malfoy's leg, slowly it glided higher until its hissing mouth was level with his terrified ear.

"Is this enough dancing for you now Malfoy?" Zabrina murmured.

She had been disillusioned, not transfigured as it had appeared. That would have garnered far too much attention, not that she couldn't have done the spell of course.

"Or, perhaps you need a little more persuasion to let me up to bed?" She continued, the snake vanishing as she re appeared.

"I am a Slytherin after all; I know how to get what I want."

The common room erupted into laughter as Zabrina stood with a hand on Malfoy's shoulder, her lips close to his ear, the rest of her pressed close against his back. He did not jump away from her but turned and eyed her with a new look, one she knew to be admiration and she revelled in it. "Interesting magic there Black, but you should watch out, I may take you up on that offer!" He winked at her in a suggestive manner and the moment passed, she felt like more of a Slytherin then than she ever had before and, smirking at her fellows, she gently pushed a very close and personal Malfoy away from her with her wand. A few sparks flew from the tip and at this, his smirk matching her own; she winked and sashayed up the stairs whilst the whole common room erupted into jeers and catcalls behind her.

Zabrina felt victorious as she readied herself for bed. She had never before felt compelled to be popular but she realised now that it was within her rights. She would no longer have to put up with any of the silliness she had endured and, she had to admit, seeing Malfoy's face change when he looked at her made it a hundred times more worth it. "Draco," she whispered to herself as she slid into sleep.


	3. The Order

Chapter 3 – The Order of the Phoenix

The summer after third year Evangeline summoned both her children home. The house at Grimmauld place was just as gloomy as before only this time there was an unknown and unwelcome presence. The twin's father had returned.

Zabrina knew of the escaped murderer Sirius Black but she had never made the connection with her own name. Black had been a friend to the Potters and seemed like a git, she regarded the idea that he had been close to the Dark Lord as idiotic, his true followers would never have denied him so vehemently. Sirius's name was blasted off the family tree and their mother had told them their father was dead, end of story. Therefore, it was with great surprise that Zabrina found him in her house. Evangeline was in bed and Zabrina had not yet seen her, they had arrived late the night before and now it was the early hours of the morning and Zabrina thought herself to be the only one up, but it was not so. Into the kitchen walked a man that reminded her instantly of her brother, the noble brow, the troubled yet unapologetic expression that had grown to irritate her in the last few years. Could Tommy not see that she was just as good as he was despite being a Slytherin? This man, she could tell, would judge her too and she disliked him instantly. He regarded her for a while and, deciding that he would have to be the first to speak, he asked her name.

"It's Zabrina" she said, "and you are?"

"My name is Black, Sirius Black and this is my house! It was enough of a surprise to find Evangeline still here and she took herself off to bed before I could ask her anything! What are you doing here?"He demanded, glaring slightly at her.

Zabrina weighed up this information; obviously, her mother had given up as usual when confronted with anything and had neglected to tell this man that she had borne him children. Typical of Evangeline and her constant blinding denial.

"Well then Mr. Black" Zabrina said, "It is my duty to inform you that, as your eldest child by three minutes and as you are a convicted felon and prison escapee, this is actually my house, my mother upstairs and you-" she said this part very firmly "-are actually my guest, may I get you anything?"

It brought her great satisfaction to see the proud, self assured face crumple slightly before the man turned and sped of up the stairs towards her mother's room, shouting for her to wake up and explain everything.

Zabrina and Tommy spent some time in each other's company that evening piecing together all the information they had gathered about their newly acquired father. Tommy was of the impression that their father was destructive and dangerous and would bring the ministry down upon them in no time, something he wanted to keep from their fragile mother at all costs. Zabrina felt that Sirius was unlikely to get caught by the ministry but she was more worried about what he would bring to the house.

"You realise this won't be our house anymore?" she asked Tommy.

"He will want to be the head of the house and who knows who he will bring in, he's Potter's godfather, we're going to be entertaining that self-righteous wonder-boy every holiday I can just see it!"

Tommy, being a Gryffindor had less to say on the subject of Potter visiting but he was also worried about how Sirius would react to them, he may be unhinged from his time in Azkaban and make their lives here difficult, he might upset mother which wouldn't be good for anyone.

It did not take long for Zabrina's fears to be realised. Sirius informed his children (their mother had not left her room for days) that their home was going to be the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, Sirius had promised it to Dumbledore before he knew anyone was living here and they would just have to like it or lump it. Within weeks, the whole Weasley family had moved in. It had started in dribs and drabs, a few Aurors here a few teachers there, but finally it became apparent that their home was not exclusively their own residence. Zabrina felt angry at the intrusion into her life, not to mention that Mrs Weasley's first decree was that the house had to be 'cleaned'. As though it was her job to decide that! However, like it or not the boarded up rooms were slowly opened and the cobwebs and other creatures nests were gradually and grudgingly tidied away. The only satisfaction Zabrina got was seeing the struggle the Weasley children and Hermione had with using no magic.

The Summer slowly trickled by. Zabrina kept out of everyone's way as much as possible; she even spent time with her mother in order to look like she was doing something. There was no way she was going to act like a house elf and start cleaning things! It irritated her to see Tommy getting on so well with the intruders but she had expected little else from him. Her mother had lost allot of her edge since Sirius had returned. She had once been a rather forbidding woman whom the children would never dare to cross but now, now she was somewhat deflated. Zabrina picked up allot of the details of her mother's entrance into the magical world from the times she spent with her, her mother had taken to rambling along on a tangent and then losing her thought process just as the story was becoming clear. She heard how Evangeline had relied almost entirely on Sirius and how he had been locked up on the night Evangeline was going to reveal her pregnancy to him. Most interestingly of all perhaps, Zabrina learned more of her mother's 'secret' hobby. She had come quite close to discovering her history and heritage, telling Zabrina of the unsent letters addressed to 'Tommy' and Zabrina's grandmother's families work for the last Order of the Phoenix, the soldiers against the Dark Lord and everything he stood for.

It also interested Zabrina to hear that her Mother's family name, 'Merryweather', was that of a very old pure blood family, this meant that Zabrina had the perfect Slytherin credentials, minus the blood traitor father but she could get past that. After all, what mattered was how _she_ acted.

Back at school Zabrina had allot to think about. She noticed that in the corridor and in the girl's bathroom whenever she saw Hermione the girl tried to smile at her and engage her in conversation. Zabrina was perfectly happy for them all to go on ignoring each other but she recognised in the other girl a need to be good and kind at all times, Zabrina felt no need to reciprocate. Meanwhile her life as a Slytherin had improved greatly, she was now one of the most popular students and considered herself allied with Malfoy and his friends, although she did not make hanging out with them a regular occurrence. Her studies were progressing well; she had long since mastered the school curriculum and now viewed classes as practice sessions, nothing more. Her interest in learning had brought her deep into the realms of the restricted section, she also took advanced potions with professor Snape and her thirst for knowledge knew no bounds. It was only when Umbrage started assessing the school that life became a little difficult, Zabrina hated that woman, it was as though she had no magic in her at all. Defence against the Dark Arts had become even more of a joke class and on top of everything, Malfoy had joined Umbrage's stupid club making Zabrina furious. She had learned to hate the Ministry of Magic from her mother and Umbrage stood for everything that was foul and corrupt in the wizarding community, Zabrina vowed she would see them all pay. As the anger within her grew, she began to study the darker books in the restricted section; no longer limiting herself to what she had been taught was 'good' magic. Gradually her thirst for knowledge morphed into an unquenchable urge for ultimate power over those whom she was steadily growing to hate with a vengeance learned from her mother. The difference was that Zabrina did not want to save anyone; she just wanted to destroy them.

At Christmas Zabrina and Tommy were again summoned to Grimmauld place. To their surprise their mother was up and about, Molly Weasley had enticed her out of bed with a request for help in the kitchen and Evangeline, always having been a good cook, felt her need for praise satisfied when Molly had proclaimed her stew, 'most excellent'. Zabrina found the merging of their two families sickening, Tommy and Sirius were getting on well and had found much in common, despite her brother's previous misgivings about the man's sanity. Evangeline was obviously as much in love with their father as ever and her eyes followed him around the room watching his every move. However, on Christmas eve Evangeline said something that surprised even Zabrina. She informed everyone that Zabrina, Tommy and herself had been invited to dine at the Malfoy's that night.

The Order members were aghast, surely that would be the prime spot for You Know Who to have his lair, what of it was a trap? Evangeline swept away all their concerns with the fact that Narcissa's son was friends with Zabrina and it was their duty to go, no one could say anything to dissuade her. Evangeline's new found exuberance meant that she had returned slightly to her old self, she was proud of the connection to the prestigious Malfoys and excited to go to such an extravagant party. Zabrina wanted to go out of sheer interest in Malfoy's life, she also knew she was more interested in him than she let on even to herself but she put the thought aside and prepared for the evening ahead. The Order eventually calmed down after Evangeline promised to report back any goings on at the manor that were not strictly party happenings but Zabrina knew her mother had no intention of being anything other than a perfect guest. They used floo powder to get to the Manor and upon entering were ushered into a room where they could remove their cloaks, Zabrina was wearing a dark emerald dress, it looked almost black but when it caught the light there was a hint of green, she felt like a perfect Slytherin princess and was satisfied that she had finally begun to grow into her looks. It almost made her laugh to think of how uninterested in balls and dressing up she had been in her third year. The Manor was gorgeous and even Zabrina was rendered speechless by the opulence of the grand ballroom, Draco was waiting with his parents to greet everyone but when Zabrina made to pass him he took her arm and motioned her to follow him.

"Zabrina!" he whispered intently in a corner of the room, "The dark lord is coming tonight. He will not be at the party but you should be aware."

Zabrina's first thought was Tommy, he must not find out that this is anything other than a nice party at a nice house, "Draco" she whispered, "be sure to tell me when he arrives."

He nodded once and she smiled, instantly lifting the tension.

"Shall we?" he said, offering her his arm and together they swept into the dining room, a perfectly expressionless duo. Dinner was a pleasant affair, Evangeline talked and laughed and did nothing to embarrass Zabrina, although she now knew that her mother hated many of the people in this room for doing nothing to help her father, she acted as though she delighted to be in their company. Zabrina was seated next to Draco, he occasionally whispered some interesting gossip to her about some of the people in the room and they laughed together like the school children they were, any animosity that had once been between them long since set aside. However, throughout the meal Zabrina could sense the underlying tension. She saw it in the permanent wrinkle in Narcissa's forehead, she felt it in Lucius's false laugh that grated on her nerves and she heard it, suddenly, halfway through dessert, in a cruel, high pitched cackle that drifted from the entrance hall that Draco confirmed was his Aunt Bellatrix arriving.

Zabrina was interested to meet this distant relation of hers, Narcissa had mentioned the family connection between the Malfoys and the Blacks when they were first introduced but it was only very distant, and after all, most of the pure blood families were interrelated. As the tables cleared and people began to move into the ballroom for dancing, Draco turned to Zabrina and taking her hand, he let her onto the dance floor. Suddenly Zabrina felt it, the subtle shift in the air, the beat of her heart that increased as his arms encircled her and they began to dance. She almost forgot everything in that moment and became the young girl she was, she felt carefree and happy, emotions that were not normally part of her repertoire, and all the while Draco's eyes kept hers held captive by his silvery gaze piercing her own. It was breathtaking. All too soon, he had to release her to speak with his father but after a moment he was back, his face grave.

"He wants to speak with you and your family," Draco murmured into her ear, sending shivers down her spine, she couldn't tell if it was his words or his breath on her neck which had caused them.

"I have to get Tommy somewhere, he cannot know!"

She exclaimed and suddenly her wand was in her hand, Draco didn't know how it had got there so fast, she didn't have any sleeves to keep it in as was her trademark but he didn't stop to think on it for long because she was moving towards Tommy, as soon as her brother turned towards her his face went blank. Draco was almost shocked; she had imperiused her own twin! But there was no time to worry now. He took her arm he led her to a tapestry that concealed the servants stairs, she followed, her brother dazedly bringing up their rear.

"What are you doing?" Draco whispered when they were out of earshot, "you can't use magic!"

"I highly doubt that the trace will be on this house when the Dark Lord in present, and anyway they can't detect who does the magic, only that it was done, I would laugh if the Ministry tried to enter this place tonight!"

Draco looked at her with admiration and almost a little fear but she ignored it and followed him to a spare bedroom where her brother laid on the bed, flicking her wand he immediately turned pale and began shivering.

"Kreacher!" Zabrina spoke the name firmly and with a loud crack, their family house elf appeared. He had not been present for her childhood, clearly sensing the lack of magic in the house and staying away but he had returned in time for their departure to Hogwarts and Zabrina was grateful for his help with their mother when they were at school.

"Kreacher, please remain here and look after Tommy, he is unwell. Ensure he does not leave this bed."

"Yes Mistress, of course Mistress, Kreacher is please to serve the noble young Master of the house of Black."

Kreacher bowed but Zabrina had already turned away.

"Don't worry," she said, upon seeing Draco's face, "Tommy will be fine in a few hours but he needs to be realistically ill otherwise this plan will collapse."

Draco nodded but he appeared to be looking at her in a different way.

"How can you be so calm about all this?" He questioned. "Are you not worried about what the Dark Lord will say?"

She smiled an utterly fake smile that still made him catch his breath.

"I worry about nothing; the Dark Lord can do little to me that I cannot do to him in return."

With that she swept from the room leaving Draco pondering her words.

The Dark Lord was in the Library, the party continued in the ballroom but there were several people milling about outside the library that she was sure were death eater guards. Narcissa noticed her and bustled over saying that her mother was already in there and that she must return to the party and be a good hostess, with that Zabrina was on her own. She walked towards the door, not surprised at all that she felt no fear, only a mild interest in what she was about to hear.

The Dark Lord was talking to her mother when she entered, they both looked at her and her mother introduced her immediately. She looked paler than usual and was sitting down in a way that made Zabrina think she would find it rather hard to stand up. The Dark Lord motioned her to sit in another chair.

"I have just made the acquaintance of your mother." He said in a high, cold voice "she has told me of her name but I was far more interested in yours, I knew a Zabrina Merryweather once, many years ago before I was... truly myself. It seems that I have just had the pleasure of being introduced to, not only my daughter but also my granddaughter too, tell me, where is my grandson?" Zabrina absorbed this information carefully, it certainly explained some things but now she must think only of Tommy.

"He is upstairs my Lord,' she whispered, eyes downcast, "he was taken violently ill and Draco showed me a room where he could lie down and sleep, our elf tends to him." It happened before she even knew but her natural defences kicked in and the Dark Lord saw only what her mind was willing to show him, he exited quickly, frowning. "That is most... displeasing, but cannot be helped, I will have to meet the-" he sneered here as though to prepare himself for a bad word, "-Gryffindor twin, some other time. Now I understand that you are living with the Order of the Phoenix and are therefore unable to tell me its location, however your mother has agreed to give me information. I think it would be best if I were to only communicate with Zabrina, she is a Slytherin and her friendship with the youngest Malfoy makes it entirely reasonable for her to visit here. I wish for you," here he looked at Evangeline, "to remain friendly with the Order, your son too, so that they do not suspect that the family is, shall we say corrupted?" He was not looking for an answer and his smile was wide, it was obvious he was happy with this outcome. Zabrina could only nod, inside she felt excited, finally a challenge, something for her to do to prove herself and to use her skills and powers to their full extent, and of course, if it led her into the arms of Draco Malfoy more often than not then there really was no way she could refuse.

Afterwards Evangeline and Zabrina met in Tommy's room, he was still out of it so they could talk quietly.

"It seems the Dark Lord knew my mother at a time when he worked in Diagon Alley." Evangeline whispered.

"He was charged with finding valuable objects and 'persuading' their owners to part with them, my mother is a Merryweather, I'm sure they had many treasures, and her being young and foolish she probably fell for everything he said..."

Evangeline trailed of here, probably thinking back to her own love for Sirius and how foolish she had been. Then again, probably not, her mother was too blinded by her feelings to think they were anything like as frivolous as her grandmothers were. Zabrina's whole world was suddenly falling into place, she was a descendant of one of the greatest wizards of all time and her powers had skipped a generation. Having been conceived by love or at least affection, unlike her mother who had been conceived for nothing but opportunity therefore rendering her powerless in her squib status. Zabrina wondered if the Dark Lord knew of her mother's lack of abilities, but he must do, she reminded herself, he had picked Zabrina above all others to do this important task, he must have seen something in her, something that he did not see in anyone else.

Evangeline retreated back to the ball and Zabrina allowed herself to sink into a nearby chair, she jumped up almost immediately, however, when Draco suddenly appeared from the concealed entrance.

"I am to spy on the order," she told him. "He thought it should be me because of our... friendship."

She glanced at him; he was gazing at her intently.

"And you're ok with that? It will be difficult, and if you get caught..." he let his words hang in the air but she brushed them off with a shake of her head.

"I'll be fine Draco but thank you for your concern, you don't have to worry about me, I am perfectly capable of defending myself."

She put her hand on his arm in what she hoped was a comforting gesture but he shrugged her off and turned away.

"It should not have to be you, regardless of how accomplished a witch you are, he's doing this to test you, to see where your loyalties lie."

He turned back to face her. "I hope you are prepared for that?"

Without expecting an answer, he reached a hand towards her face, cupping her cheek in his cool palm. Zabrina let herself rest for a moment, how far they had come from the two squabbling children they had once been. How fast they had to grow up. The moment was over too soon, however, as Tommy had begun to stir. She gave Draco a look that she hoped conveyed her frustration and moved to Tommy's side, his eyes fluttered open and she helped him to stand. They made their way slowly, with Draco's assistance, to the floo before collecting their mother and returning to Grimmauld Place.


	4. The Dark Lord

**In this story when Sirius dies, he doesn't fall through the veil he just gets hit by an avada and falls to the floor. I needed there to be a body unfortunately because that's the scene my brain came up with, c'est la vie.**

 **For pictures to go with this story, mostly dresses lets be honest, check out my Tumblr! Details in my bio.**

Chapter Four - The Dark Lord

Christmas passed rather gloomily for Zabrina. She was frustrated at the displays of affection her mother and brother showed Sirius and the rest of the house guests and increasingly found herself alone in one of the upstairs rooms when everyone else was downstairs having fun.

She didn't mind the solitude, it gave her time to read her school books and continue her education; there was more need now than ever before for her powers as a witch to be strong and she worked hard towards that goal. If the Dark Lord was recruiting her she needed to be the best, not only because she wanted to be worthy but for her own self preservation. You didn't last long in those circles unless you made yourself indispensable, she had done her research.

On one cold night she made her way to the drawing room where everyone was sitting playing games of wizard chess or listening to the wireless by the fire. The scene reeked of contentment and happiness, Zabrina glared at her brother who was in turn gazing adoringly at Sirius and listening to him tell a story. Harry and Ron were listening too and her mother was fawning worse than her brother was. Anyone else would at that moment have felt rather left out but Zabrina only felt a cold rage simmering under the surface, she couldn't stand the smug looks on their faces, the happy families' charade that had somehow managed to take root within the walls of her home.

"I'm going out, Mother." She called over the noise of the room.

All heads turned towards her as though they had forgotten she existed and were surprised at the intrusion. She planted an unconcerned sneer on her face and turned to go in a whoosh of her long black cloak and heavy black velvet dress. She was pulling her hood up just as her mother called her name.

"Zabrina dear, you can't just go out, come and join us!"

Grinding her teeth together Zabrina took a moment to compose herself, she could hear Mrs. Weasley's influence in her mother's tone and it made her want to curse someone.

"I assure you mother I do not feel the need, and anyway... I wish to visit Draco."

Zabrina turned to face them; she could see Harry and his cronies whispering amongst themselves. Didn't they know how rude they were being? They were guests in her house and did they care about her whereabouts at any other point in the day? No, only when she was doing something they didn't deem appropriate. Zabrina wished she could curse them right then and there but she kept her cool, there were far more important matters to attend to and she had no time for these, _children_.

Smirking she faced Evangeline. "Mother I must go, you know I am... expected."

Letting her words hang in the air so her mother knew exactly whom she was meeting she watched the fight go out of the woman's eyes. Zabrina knew Evangeline was conflicted, but she trusted that her mother's hatred of the establishment and all it stood for would continue to keep her in check and on the right side.

"Well... _right_... for now!" Zabrina laughed to herself.

Thinking of plans that were only just beginning to take root in her mind she set off into the night in a swirl of her black velvet.

At Malfoy Manor, the Dark Lord was awaiting her. Zabrina had told him that she was not privy to the Order's meetings but just being in the house was useful, she could give details of everyone who came or went and also many of the portraits could be relied upon to tell her whatever they heard, she was mistress of the house after all, regardless of what Mrs. Weasley liked to think, and with her mother's increasing reclusiveness their loyalty lay entirely with her.

The Dark Lord was pleased with her information, but he did not allow her to go when she got up to leave. Instead, he questioned Zabrina on her schooling.

"Do you feel that your education is lacking?" he asked in his high, cold voice.

"I do my Lord," she replied, "I teach myself as much as possible and have ways of gaining access to the restricted section which I utilise whenever I can."

"Good, good" he murmured. "I think it would be useful if your education continued out-with the school however. It is almost criminal the ways that Hogwarts squashes down the talents of those they feel are unconventional, shall we say, in their methods."

Zabrina felt a thrill of anticipation as she left the library several hours later. The Dark Lord had taught her several dark spells and had shown her Legilimency. Zabrina had no trouble in understanding it and knew that if she practiced she would be proficient very soon. As the end of the holidays were approaching, the Dark Lord had suggested that Zabrina make arrangements to visit her sick mother on occasion, that way she could be free from school grounds to do as she pleased. He had also instructed her to learn and practice the unforgivable curses, by any means necessary.

She conveyed none of this to Draco when they met in his private study. He knew that she would want to keep things to herself and did not push her but she could tell he was frustrated and did not agree with the situation. It almost made Zabrina smile, poor Draco, he thought she was being used terribly, a pawn in her evil Grandfather's wicked plan.

She, however, knew better. Zabrina was finding she was more and more capable of mastering her magic, she could feel the power within her, a wealth of untapped resources just waiting to be unleashed, and The Dark Lord was the one who was being taken advantage of, if anything.

Draco held his hand out to her and she took it, "I want to know you will be alright," he said seriously. "I want to know that you are being careful."

"Draco, darling, as if I could be anything else. You worry too much, really."

She allowed her tone to soften, her eyelids to lower, her hair to slide from her neck in long languid waves as she tilted her head to one side.

"Don't you trust me?"

"Of course I do!" he replied, "it's just that, in the time we have got to know each other, I mean really know each other, more than in school, I've grown... rather fond of you."

His tone was stilting and it lacked the flair with which she would have preferred to hear the words but she understood Draco's reluctance to speak of such matters. She didn't need such paltry things as words anyway, deep down she knew he would be hers.

It grew late but Zabrina was reluctant to leave, Draco was showing her his favourite places around the Manor, and favourite with Draco meant hidden, and secret. Zabrina enjoyed nothing more than secrets, it was as though she was getting a slice of a person's soul when they were revealed to her and she kept them close, in case they were ever needed. Having Draco's secrets, however, made her feel special, and although she knew she was, in every way, extraordinary, it was not often that others felt the need to single her out.

Draco knew more about Zabrina than, he suspected, even she knew. He had been watching her for a long time throughout school, even when he used to tease her he had mostly done so because he wanted to get to know her better, to get a rise out of her. He knew her favourite spells, her immense knowledge, her intensity and attitude which were, mostly, for show. And yet there was still so much of her that had yet to be revealed to him, she was an enigma and they was nothing he liked more than a good puzzle. Therefore, he revealed the manors secrets to her and watched as her eyes sparked with pleasure when she knew she was the only person he had told. He watched too the way her hands caressed objects as she passed them, as though leaving her signature to mark the place. She had such self confidence and poise and yet he wondered how much of it was real, and how much was a show she put on in order to hide her real feelings, her real agenda.

The clock in the library struck midnight and Zabrina sighed.

"I'm going to have to go Draco, you know I would rather stay but the madhouse awaits!"

It wasn't often Draco heard her joke and he looked into her eyes sharply, just in time to catch a glimmer of sadness within them.

"What's wrong?" He asked, placing a long, white finger under her chin and tilting her face up towards him. Her large green eyes mesmerised him, holding them both still with their powerful gaze, but then she sighed and moved away,

"Sometimes, Draco, I feel like you are my only ally in this whole world, and if you left me I-"

"I would never leave you!" Draco interrupted instantly, as she had hoped he would.

He tried not to think of her use of the word ally, this _was_ a war but was that really how she saw him? Allies were there to be used until a war was over, not beyond. But he supposed such a word as 'friend' would convey too much from her closeted heart.

He ran his hands through his white blonde hair in exasperation and took a step towards her, his hand reaching out for hers.

"As long as you are honest with me, about the big things. Don't hide from me Zabrina, or I won't be able to help you, if you ever need me too."

She smiled up at him but the sadness in her eyes was plain for him to see now, "Oh Draco." She whispered, "It's not your help I need, it's just you, on my side. If I know you will always be there then I'll be able to do anything."

And clutching her hand he swore he always would be, without really knowing what he was swearing to at all.

* * *

The end of the holidays could not have come sooner for Zabrina. Grimmauld Place was stifling, the others felt the need to talk to her and try to include her in everything. Presumably only to distract her from Draco, and to try to get her onto their side. Frequently Hermione and Ginny would drop hints about falling for bad boys and unsuitable partners. It made Zabrina seethe with rage but she kept her cool, she knew there were bigger battles to fight than petty rivalries with unwanted house guests.

On her return to Hogwarts Zabrina immediately presented professor Snape with a written request that she should visit her sick mother on alternate weekends. Permission was obviously granted and Zabrina was satisfied. So busy was she with the frequent weekends away under the Dark Lords tutelage and the extra studying that she tried to fit in at school, there was barely enough time to see Draco outside of class. They would try to get together as often as possible however, to do homework in the common room or the library. Little did she know that it was to be thoughts of those happy, innocent moments that were to keep Zabrina going, drawing upon them often throughout the dark times that were to engulf the coming years.

* * *

They were all in black. It was not unusual as the Hogwarts uniform was black robes but coupled with everyone's stark white faces and sombre expressions it caused quite a contrast. The funeral was small, not many people had known that Sirius was innocent of the crimes that had earned him a life sentence in Azkaban. In the end, his escape had only really earned him another life sentence, a death sentence.

Zabrina stood with her mother and Tommy whilst nearby Hermione and Ron stood side by side with Harry, lending him their strength. There was someone talking about Sirius and everyone was listening, heads bowed but Zabrina was staring straight ahead, a small smile on her face. Suddenly people started to shuffle and fidget and Zabrina looked down, no trace of the smile left on her face. First Tommy walked forward to the gaping hole in the earth where Sirius lay, interned in Mahogany. Tommy lifted a handful of earth from a mound and, with a shaking hand threw it gently onto the coffin. Next their mother threw some, she was crying silently and when she turned away to walk back to her place she staggered slightly. There was a pause before Tommy turned to Zabrina and just looked at her, expectantly. Zabrina took a few steps forward; she gazed down at the coffin. Her father lay in there, cold and silent, but all she could feel was triumph. The Dark Lord was out in the open, he had shown his face, she had known there would be casualties but this was more than she could have hoped for. Her father had only been a burden. She leaned forward slightly, as though looking into the hole but she never bent down to the earth. Instead, she spat, ruthlessly onto the dark wood and turned with a blank stare to face her family. There was a sharp crack that echoed throughout the silent grave yard as her mother's hand connected sharply with Zabrina's face.

"How could you Zabrina? Spitting on his coffin, in front of everyone!" Tommy was on a rampage, shouting and occasionally throwing things around the drawing room. Zabrina could only roll her eyes and remain silent until he had finished.

"You showed us up! You showed us up, _you_ who are supposedly so _proud_ of our family name! Sometimes I wonder if we are really even twins, perhaps it's all a bad joke or... or I just imagined it!"

She hoped he was running out of steam, there was only so much soliloquising she could take and Tommy was reaching the limit. She observed him as he stormed around the room. His hair was lighter than hers, a friendly sort of brown as opposed to the raven dark locks that she took from their father. They were certainly not identical twins in any respect and yet they had really been very close as children. Almost inseparable.

As Tommy threw yet another hideous vase at the wall, relieving him of his frustrations and them of all their family heirlooms, Zabrina thought she saw a glimpse of something within him. Yes, Tommy was impulsive and arrogant but he was also very like her, or at least he had been, once. Could this rage, this unconquerable temper, perhaps be an outward reflection of Zabrina's own inner fury that fuelled her fire, her desire to see the world burn at her feet? Something she kept so very closely hidden as opposed to her Gryffindor brother. Musingly, she wondered whether Tommy and she were really quite so different after all, and just where the future was set to take them.

She did not think of this for long however and soon turned her mind to other things. Most notably Tommy's insistence that she write a letter of apology to their mother and all their friends, something which she staunchly refused to do.

And so those thoughts were lost in the melee of the situation and would not be pondered again for quite some time, when, perhaps, their conclusion would come too late.


	5. The Task

Chapter Five – The Task

That summer was harder than Zabrina had expected. Her mother and Tommy were no longer speaking to her, Sirius's death and Zabrina's subsequent indifference had caused a rift that she could not seem to breach. The lack of friendly chit chat was not something Zabrina cared about particularly, it was more that her mother had decided to take it upon herself to actually _be_ a mother. Zabrina was forced, for the first time, to do chores and she was also no longer allowed to go to Malfoy Manor whenever she wanted. At the start of the holidays, this had been unbearable. Draco wrote to her regularly, he was so ashamed of his father's failure and he wanted Zabrina by his side. She begged and pleaded with her mother in a way that made her feel sick to her stomach, promising all the daughterly love and obedience in the world. And still her mother's decision did not change. What was worse was that the Dark Lord had not even summoned them; Zabrina knew that her mother would not have been able to refuse that.

It worried Zabrina; the Dark Lord was punishing Draco by keeping her away from him, and yet it seemed to be working. Her letters from Draco had trickled to a halt and she felt the keenness of loss more than she ever had before. She had had no idea how much she relied on Draco to always be there, a steadying presence in her life. Without him, her anger raged without restraint. She barley slept and she barley ate, preferring instead to pace the upper floors cursing the curtains and practising all the spells she possibly could without actually using her magic. She was such an accomplished legilimens now that she could break into people's minds without them even noticing. She did it, on occasion, when there was an Order meeting on and therefore lots of undetectable magic in the house, she found it an amusing distraction when she was feeling playful and bored, or when the people in the house were treating her like and exceptionally bad smell. Nevertheless, it was a long summer, and Zabrina was beginning to see the cracks in her own façade.

In July, it was Harry's Birthday. Zabrina knew this because they had been invited to the Weasley's to celebrate. She had presumed she would have been excused but the night before the party her mother had come to her room.

"You will wear something other than your usual black to this party tomorrow I trust?" The woman had snarled as she entered the room uninvited. Zabrina stared at her, she couldn't decided which part of the sentence was stranger, that she would go to the party or that her mother thought there was anything in Zabrina's wardrobe that _wasn't_ black. Unfortunately, her mother made her feelings clear and the next day saw Zabrina standing outside the burrow wearing a dark purple gown and scowling with rage.

"Zabrina!" Hermione called her over and Zabrina let her feet lead her, there was nothing she could do to get out of this that wouldn't end in a one way ticket to Azkaban so she may as well get it over with. When she stepped into the ramshackle house she momentarily wondered if the killing curse really was as unforgivable as everyone said it was, because she was pretty sure she had every right to use it now, this was a dire situation. The burrow was bedecked in multi coloured streamers and balloons; it was an amalgamation of all Zabrina's most hated things, colours, happiness and people. She lowered herself into what she hoped was a chair; it appeared to be missing a leg and had been covered in a knitted orange throw so she couldn't be sure. Hermione smiled at her.

"So Zabrina, how has your summer been?" she asked. "Still seeing Malfoy?"

Zabrina itched to reach for her wand and curse the Gryffindor's face until it resembled little more than a rotten tomato but she resisted, barely.

"Oh Hermione how kind of you to ask!" she said with a smile. "After you and your friends put Draco's farther in prison it was rather hard for him, so we haven't seen much of each other this summer."

Zabrina kept her smile firmly fixed on her face whilst the other girl's slowly started to slip.

"Err- well- umm- how about some food? You look so slim in that dress you need feeding up!"

Hermione stood up quickly and led the way to the food table, Zabrina smirked and followed behind, knowing that the other girl was silently cursing herself for falling back on one of Mrs. Weasley's trademark phrases.

The party was predictably dull. Zabrina allowed herself to be fed and watered and even pulled into a few games. It was interesting, really, to see how comfortable everyone became around her when she stopped fighting and pretended to give in. They seemed to think she had changed herself, just to suit them, to fit into their warped idea of perfection. She knew she would have to change their perspectives but right now, the fight had quite gone out of her, it was all she could do not to scream with frustration at the numbness that overtook her senses. She shouldn't be here, she should be with _him,_ but nothing felt right any more, and she couldn't seem to muster any strength. Then she heard something that changed that.

She had been on her way back from the bathroom when she heard voices inside one of the rooms, she knew it was Hermione, and Ron too, she thought as she listened closer.

"Ron I'm sure she doesn't mean to act the way she does, look at her tonight, she's joining in with everything. She just needs people to be nice to her!"

That was Hermione speaking, her voice impassioned, as it always was when the bushy haired girl had picked up the scent of a good cause. Zabrina smirked to herself, the girl really was insufferable.

"Hermione you are deluded!" Ron's voice exclaimed, "She spat on her own father's grave, sorry Harry, but she did and that's inexcusable!"

"Well I think she had a pretty good reason to do so! Even if it doesn't excuse her behaviour it must have been pretty hard hearing he own father had left all his property to Harry, as if he didn't even care about her and Tommy-"

"Well it was sorted wasn't it? And I'm sure Sirius just never got round to changing the will, no matter how much he might have preferred Harry to have everything, he would have known wizard law would dispute that when there are living heirs. It was obviously just a mistake!"

Zabrina sighed as she listened to Ron and Hermione argue about her. They were right of course, it had made Zabrina furious when she had heard the will, any trace of feeling she had had towards her father vanished, and her dislike of Harry had turned to hatred. It had been his fault her father had died anyway, Harry and his hero complex. She decided that she had heard enough and turned to go, but then Harry's voice chipped in-

"You can't really be saying that she was upset about the will, she doesn't have the capacity to feel that emotion! And if you really think she is being nice at this party, Hermione, you can think again, she's just pretending, every word she says is dripping in sarcasm. You can bet she is still seeing Draco as well, those two are as thick as thieves. There's no way she doesn't know what's happening over at Malfoy Manor-"

Harry broke off abruptly as Zabrina entered the room, she was furious. How dare this pathetic excuse for a wizard discuss her like that, he had no right, and neither did the others. They knew nothing about her, nothing. She had been willing to play along with what her mother wished, it hadn't particularly bothered her, it was just an inconvenience. She had almost been grateful for a distraction from her constant panic about what was happening to Draco, but this had gone too far. She could no longer let herself be manipulated within this circle of idiots; she had to stand up for herself.

"Harry, do you really think you know anything about me? Surely, you must have more sense. Is this the way you repay me after everything I've done for you? Spreading lies about me behind my back!"

They looked at her, shocked.

"W-what do you mean?" Harry stuttered, "You've never done anything for me."

"Oh really?" Zabrina hurled back, her face tense but her voice perfectly calm, "Then I suppose I shouldn't have bothered to allow you live after you, like a stupid lamb, practically led my father to the slaughter?"

Harry's face turned red with rage but before he could get a word in Hermione jumped to his defence.

"Zabrina you can't say things like that! We understand you are hurting but it was absolutely not Harry's fault that Sirius died and you just can't-"

"Can't what? Defend myself? I don't know why I bothered putting up with your lot, your existence is meaningless. In fact it makes me wonder just how long it will be before I'm spitting on your graves too, not that I would even bother to muster the energy that such a gesture would take!"

With that Zabrina whirled from the room making her way to the exit as fast as possible. She felt a little disappointed in herself actually, as though she had allowed things to get to her. She had lost her composure, and she knew Draco wouldn't have recognised her. She allowed herself a small smile as she thought of him. It was strange how, when he had always been around, at school and in the holidays, she had barely bothered with him. Oh she had noticed him and noticed his growing affection for her but she had perceived it as her right, something she was entitled too. Now it was all she could do to keep it together at the thought of him, she had never wanted to see him so badly and she had never realised just how much losing him would take from her. It felt as though the world she had created for herself was quickly slipping off its axis.

Several weeks after the dreadful party Zabrina walked down Diagon Ally. They were all here to buy their school things but Zabrina was allowed to go off on her own, she had no need of a chaperone. She wandered lazily down the street flicking her eyes from left to right from shop window to shop window. She had purchased all her school things and called for Kreacher to take them home, now she could have a little personal shopping time. Smiling to herself, she took a sharp left and entered Knockturn Alley. She didn't have long before she had to meet up with everyone else but she needed a few books that she was unlikely to come across in any but the shadiest of book shops. As she walked past the alley beside Borgan and Burks, she suddenly felt a hand on her arm, pulling her into the shadows. She couldn't see who had taken her but she didn't feel even a trace of fear. Instead she felt a twinge of excitement, was she now going to be given a chance to unleash herself, to fight with all these powers she possessed? Suddenly a feeling engulfed her, maybe it was a scent or a presence but at that moment, she knew it was Draco. She turned and there he was, standing before her.

"Draco" she breathed, "you're alright."

He didn't look great actually. There were dark circles under his eyes and he seemed nervous, almost scared. Before she could say anything else he began to speak.

"I'm not going to be able to see you much at Hogwarts, I'm not actually supposed to see you at all. I'm sorry for the silence but I just had to tell you in person, I didn't want you to think that I - that I'd left you."

He breathed this out in a rapid torrent and she felt off balance suddenly, as though she was no longer in control. "Draco, what do you mean? Is it him? Is he punishing you? Is there anything I can do to hel-?"

"No!" Draco raised his voice but then lowered it. "I don't want you involved, I'm supposed to do it alone, with no help, he's given me a job. I have to do this, and I have to leave you out of it. I'm sorry."

Zabrina narrowed her eyes at him; there was nothing she couldn't do. If he had a job, she should share it, the Dark Lord could not just expect her to stand aside and let events unfold.

"I'm going to see him!" She exclaimed. "I'm going to ask him to give the job to me; it's not fair on you-"

"-Zabrina!" Draco interrupted, "don't even think about it. I know you like to think you can do everything and I'm just your useless sidekick but that's not the case here. I can handle this! Alright?"

He was angry now, with her. It was a new experience for both of them and she wasn't sure she wanted to put up with it. Turning away, she threw him a scathing look before storming off into the gloom. She looked back as she turned into Diagon Alley, all thoughts of her shopping gone from her mind, he had disappeared. He wasn't even coming after her. Zabrina knew then that things were bad.

In the end she didn't need to storm over to Malfoy Manor, the Dark Lord summoned her. She flooed to the manor immediately, not even stopping to change. Fortunately her muggle clothing and magical attire were not particularly different, if it was long, black and dramatic she probably owned it and with a cloak on top no one would know the difference anyway. The Dark Lord was in the library, he motioned for her to take a seat and then turned from gazing into the fire to face her, his expression unreadable.

"I think it is time to let you in on a few plans I have set in motion." He drawled, letting each word hang in the air as though he was waiting for her to argue, which she was not going to do. Instead she gazed back at him, a practised look of unconcerned amusement playing on her features.

"You may have heard that Draco is stepping up and taking his father's place by my side." The Dark Lord continued. "After Lucius's' failure I need some fresh blood in the ranks, I think it will liven things up a bit, don't you?" He was trying to goad her, to gauge her reaction but she did not allow her front to waver, even though inside she longed to curse his mouth shut.

"I agree with you my lord," she replied, bowing her head slightly, "Although I am slightly surprised that Draco fits the criteria of Death Eater, he never was very quick." She sneered slightly, all the while disgusted with the entire situation. Oh for the day when people would do what she said and she wouldn't have to look to this pathetic excuse for a leader. She noticed his eyes boring into her and she focused on her occlumency shields, they were up, as they always were and she allowed a few stray, inconsequential thought to drift across her mind. Nothing too incriminating. The Dark Lord continued to stare at her for a moment but then he turned and continued with his speech.

"I disagree, I find that Draco is more than capable of the task at hand, and after all, he does not have an alternative." He sneered down at her and was satisfied when he saw a twitch in her right eyebrow, small and insignificant to some but undeniably useful to him.

"I see you are affected by Draco's plight. Naturally I do not pretend to understand the bonds that draws those weaker than myself together but if that is how you fee-"

Zabrina stood quickly, she had had enough. She could not allow him to discuss Draco with her any longer, not when she herself still had no idea what the budding feelings that were growing inside her actually meant.

"My Lord I have to interrupt." she said silkily, "You appear to be under the misconception that I have feelings for Draco. Of course I look out for him, he is my ally in most aspects of my life but if you are suggesting that I cannot perform competently because of some attachment towards him-"

she broke off, allowing him to interject his own thoughts on the subject. He remained quiet for a moment before he spoke.

"I believe that love, and the emotions connected to it, shows weakness. I do not see how feeling of that kind can allow anyone to perform as well as I, to wield the power that I wield. It would be inadvisable even to try. That is why I am going to be generous. I am going to separate you from Draco, you shall no longer have to be distracted by each other. Am I not kind?

Draco has his task which he must complete alone and you; you shall gather your own followers. I wish you to make them respect you, to allow you to be their leader, and to allow you to practice on them, and here I use the term 'allow' loosely." He smirked at her, clearly enjoying himself. "I wish you to become proficient in the unforgivable curses and all the dark spells I have taught you. For that, you need subjects, people who, I hope, will come to join my ranks in the future, the bonds of servitude already cementing themselves with my granddaughter. I hope you will not fail me in this task."

His words gave no room for negotiation and Zabrina bowed her head to acknowledge them. After all, his task was no more than she had been going to do herself anyway, although she had no interest in allowing her 'followers' to know her enough to get the chance to respect her. She was far more subtle than that.

She could not, however, let one part of his speech past. "My Lord," She said "I feel I must tell you my own views on one matter, that of love. I am quite certain that when love is coupled with unlimited power it can vanquish. It just needs the right outlet, like all magic it needs to be wielded by those that understand it. It needs a capable master."

He gazed at her for a moment before smiling almost indulgently at her. "If you are misguided enough to believe that then I'm not going to interfere, I can only concede that you are a teenager, and must therefore be given lenience in your emotions."

She gazed at him, unperturbed. "Yes my Lord, of course you are right. And I'm sure I will never get the chance to test my theory anyway, so it really is irrelevant. However, I do sometimes wonder how strong a power that combined both love and hate would be. Far stronger than one that lacked the other of that I am certain." She smiled at him, as though she had been saying nothing of consequence and then swirled from the room in a whirl of bows and goodbyes, knowing that any hint of her threat had sailed right over his stupid, manipulative, head.


	6. The Recruits

Chapter Six – The Recruits

Back at school for her fifth year, Zabrina felt a change in the atmosphere. It was subtle and not directed at her but she could sense it, a small ripple of fear, and of anticipation. The Slytherins were more hated than usual, their connections to the darker members of society being widely suspected, and the fact that everyone knew that the Dark lord had returned made the castle rather gloomy. Zabrina had barely seen Draco, which was to be expected given the Dark Lord's orders, but it was as though he had found somewhere else to be other than the common room or the library. Zabrina put it out of her mind, she had her own task to accomplish and she did not need distracting thoughts of Draco getting in her way. Before she could begin recruiting however, she had some research to finish. It was on a spell that she had started looking into over summer but hadn't got very far, she needed the Hogwarts library. It would, of course, not be strong enough for what she wanted to use it for but she wanted to look into it any way, to see if what she was trying to accomplish had ever been achieved. She knew that it would be easy for her to wield that much power, it was her speciality after all, but nevertheless it needed to be researched thoroughly. There could be no mistakes.

She set about recruiting almost as soon as her research was complete. Several months after the start of term, she approached those that were smart and belonged to the right families, but not smart enough to object too hard. She told them it was a type of elite duelling club that was so strictly secret that they would all have to swear in blood that they would never speak of it unless they were only with others of the club.

It was not long before a free evening arose and they could begin. Zabrina had turned one of the lower dungeon rooms into a place for them to meet. She had put up silencing spells and warded it thoroughly; including within her spells a blood ward that meant only she had control of the room. As long as her plans went well it wouldn't really matter if they were discovered by teachers, there would be no witnesses anyway, but there were other forces she wished to keep at bay. She gathered everyone together; there were seven participants, Vincent, Gregory, Daphne, Adrian, Theo, Millicent and Pansy. Zabrina had debated whether to invite Blaise but had decided he was too clever for his own good. Deep down she also thought she should have left Pansy out but she couldn't resist, especially after the way Pansy had clung to Draco on the train on the way to school. She supposed Pansy had been allowed to see Draco over summer when Zabrina had not, this irked her making her wand hand twitched slightly at the thought of the girl getting her comeuppance.

In the dungeon they all assembled, whispering, obviously wondering what they were going to be doing. Zabrina locked the door with a flick of her wand and swept into the centre of the room. Immediately Pansy spoke up.

"Where's Draco? I'm not doing this if he wasn't invited, It's not fair on him too be left out. Poor Draco!"

Zabrina eyed her speculatively but decided not to comment, all would be clear soon enough, for a very short period of time of course... She smiled to herself and faced her minions. They had no idea what was coming.

"You have all been chosen because you come from the right families, you are intelligent enough to understand what I mean by this and therefore you are also capable of keeping up with what I say and understand the true purpose of this little club." She began, her voice quiet yet reaching all those who stood before her, confusion on their faces.

"You see there is something I have not told you about myself, something that I do not wish anyone to know just yet, except for you, my friends."

She smirked then, as she had no intention of ever being their friend but she continued without pause. "You see I have a rather interesting family secret, my grandfather happens to be of great renown, you may know him as the Dark Lord."

She paused there to allow them to gasp, which they did, very obligingly. She did not, however, let them ask anything because she began to speak again.

"My grandfather has given me a job. Draco is not with us because he has his own orders to follow, I would ask that you assist him if he asks it of you but otherwise, stay out of his way." She smiled in particular at Pansy who just stared back, agape.

"I would like for you to all share in my secret, and keep it to yourselves of course, and I would like you to follow and assist me in the task the Dark Lord has assigned me. In return you will have the pleasure of being drafted to our side whilst still in school, therefore elevating the status of your lives from 'useless' to 'slightly less useless', understand?"

Here she waited for questions which, when they came, she answered quickly and as briefly as possible. Pansy only glared at her but did not say anything, Zabrina disliked the girl but she knew she was smart, she hoped she wasn't planning anything because she would find that pretty difficult to get out of when faced with Zabrina's wrath. Within a short time the Slytherins had begun to quieten and Zabrina decided it was time.

"There is only one other thing to discuss before you join my ranks, our name. You see the name is important because it is how I shall communicate these meeting's to you. Whenever I require you I will simply say the name to one of you and you will repeat it to each other and come to this room. Only when you hear the name will you know what you are doing, at any other time you will have no recollection, and only when you are in my presence within this room will you remember all that I have told you and all that we have done together. Do you understand?"

She spoke with clear authority and many heads were nodding without really comprehending what it was she was saying, it was only Pansy who seemed to be aware something was happening.

"What do you mean?" The girl blurted out. "How will you achieve all that? You can't modify all our memories and then retrieve them when it suits you!"

Zabrina quirked an eye brow at her, "oh can't I?" she asked, although it was clearly a rhetorical question. "That is exactly what I plan to do. You can either accept whole heartedly or go back to being less than useless, and I must remind you that 'less than useless' is not a level you want your lives to be at when the Dark Lord is concerned."

Everyone began to look a little more serious at that, and there was some whispering down the ranks but Zabrina wasn't worried. Her connections with the Malfoys made it clear to these Death Eater children that she was not someone to be trifled with, and they had been brought up to understand a higher authority, and to follow it. They all knew the folly of allowing themselves to be less than useless.

Zabrina let them whisper for a few moments before letting her wand appear in her hand. They all became silent, staring at it. "I have already decided on a name for our group and that is 'Salazar's Serpents', a bit of a mouthful but not something that anyone would ever think sounded suspicious, it could easily be a nickname for Slytherin house as a whole. Don't worry; it can only be triggered by me so no one else can force you to do anything."

Zabrina smirked at them all before raising her wand.

"Any last words?" she asked before flicking her wand in a complicated motion, not allowing any of them to interject anything anyway. The spell she performed was a complex piece of occlumency mixed with a memory charm. It was of her own invention and allowed her to invade their minds and plant the formula within it whilst also removing from them any memories she did not wish them to have. The best part was, and this was where her talent truly lay, she could cast it on all of them at once. She could probably have cast it on the entire castle if she had so wished, her magic knew no limits, and she did not feel bound within restrictions, her natural talent allowed her to face all her foes at once, and end them all instantly.

Their first meeting had concluded immediately after the completion of the spell, she had unlocked the door and shoed them out before they could begin to think about anything, and once they were outside the room they knew no more. She felt extremely satisfied with herself, the spell had appeared to work and she had followed the Dark Lord's orders whilst still retaining her own sense of self. She had followers, they just didn't know it, and she didn't wish them too. Leaving the dungeon and making her way towards the common room she was deep in thought and almost didn't notice the person rushing towards her down another corridor. She paused just before he crashed into her and she looked up, only to feel her heart stop momentarily as she looked into the eyes of Draco Malfoy.

It had been a long time since she had really seen him, she had been in the library most of the time, usually late for meals, and he didn't look like he had been eating at all, or sleeping for that matter. He looked gaunt and haggard and utterly bone tired, and she felt a great wave of sympathy and compassion flow over her with an intensity she had never felt before. How was it that he could unlock this from within her? She never felt more than a passing flicker of annoyance for anyone and yet Draco could easily consume her without even uttering a word, and at that moment she realised how much she missed him. He looked at her for a moment, as though drinking her in but then he made to move past her, towards the common room door.

"Draco" she whispered, "are you- are you alright?" He turned back to look at her, his eyes blank, uncomprehending.

"We are not supposed to talk Zabrina, or have you forgotten?"

His voice was cold and betrayed little but his eyes had suddenly awoken and were boring into her with an intensity that took her breath away. She knew then that he was trying to protect her, to protect them both. He was also an accomplished occlumens but no one hid things from the Dark Lord when he was specifically looking for them, it would have been unimaginably foolish. Zabrina smiled a small smile, one of the genuine ones that she saved only for him, and even then, it was rare.

"I guess I'll just see you back in the common room then." She replied, as though his words had meant little to her. He nodded curtly and walked away; she trailed in his wake so that she could watch him from behind, and allowed her face to betray all her feelings for once, because no one was watching.

That night when Draco finally collapsed into bed, he noticed a small vile lying on his pillow. It was a dreamless sleep potion and when he leaned in to pick it up, he could smell her scent on the linen. He didn't even take the potion, he just pushed his face into the pillow and inhaled every last drop, a smile on his face as he fell fast asleep.

* * *

"Crucio" she almost whispered the word but everyone in the dungeon heard it. Screams began to fill the air as one by one her followers fell to the floor, writhing in agony. She found that her practice sessions were progressing well, the Cruciatus Curse had been easy to manage but she had progressed further to see if she could extract various levels of pain from her victims. So far it appeared to be working, at the lower end of the spectrum she could curse them till they cried and shook, at the higher end they would be on the verge of death and would need subsequent healing spells before going to the hospital wing with 'severe stress'.

Zabrina found that the less she saw Draco the more meetings she called. It was her outlet, a way to divert her anger so she didn't accidentally curse the Dark Lord for what he was doing to her social life. The thought almost made her laugh, she had never known how much she relied on Draco, maybe it was a good thing she no longer had him by her side, she needed to know how to operate alone as much as possible. She did not want to be reliant on anyone when the time came.

It was during the Christmas holidays that things changed. Zabrina was at Malfoy manor informing the Dark Lord of her progress, he seemed satisfied and did not ask too many questions. Draco, however came stumbling out of the study after several hours, he was on the verge of passing out. She had waited for him surreptitiously in the entrance hall, she had had a feeling his mission was not going all that well.

"Draco!" she exclaimed "let me help you, I can heal you just tell me what is w-"

"No" He spoke forcefully through gritted teeth. "I don't need help; I can manage this on my own." He straightened up, wincing slightly, "and anyway, it's not the first time."

He turned away quickly and slipped through a hidden passageway. Zabrina watched him go; she couldn't understand why he didn't want her help, why he felt the need to prove himself so much. One thing she knew for certain, the Dark Lord would not get away with this. She hoped it would not be long now before Potter would triumph over him as the prophecy had foreseen; it was the only way to rid them of this ridiculous excuse for a leader. She sighed, if it were up to her she would never curse someone she wanted to use, there were other ways to make people do your bidding.

"It is always more likely, that they will die for you if they love you, than if they fear you."

She whispered to herself absently as she made her way to the fireplace.

"Salazar's Serpents," Zabrina whispered in Pansy's ear as they passed each other in the common room and smirked as she watched the girl go rigid and slip away to whisper in the ears of the others. It was the last time that Zabrina was going to call her followers to order after the holidays. She felt as though her education in that field was complete and she no longer wanted to submit to the Dark Lord's direction anyway. After one last round of all her favourite curses, she allowed her followers to exit the dungeon, some towards the hospital wing, and others toward the common room, supported by their friends. Suddenly, as she stepped out of the room she sensed someone behind her, quick as a flash she turned and then let out a small sigh, it was only Draco. He seemed angry, stepping towards her he became very close and in order to preserve her personal space she took a step back, into the dungeon. He followed her and closed the door behind them. It felt strange for Zabrina to be in there with him, she felt a small twinge of guilt at the thought of the things she had done in there, the things she had made his friends do.

It seemed as though Draco knew. "Zabrina" he growled, "I didn't want to believe it but I saw Pansy's wounds for myself, how can you do this? How have you changed so much?"

He seemed angry and confused, Zabrina wondered where, in their long history of knowing each other, had he ever confused her with someone who would _not_ do such things.

"Draco I'm only following orders, it's what I have to do, I don't have a choice-"

"Don't have a choice!" he roared, "You enjoy it, I can see it in your smirk when one of them gasps with pain in class, you can still follow orders without beings so- so thorough about it!"

Zabrina sighed, "Draco" she began, "Today was the last meeting, you can ask any of them, we all decided together that enough was enough-"

"I already asked them!" he shouted, "And they all had no idea what I was talking about, they don't even know where they got their injuries from! You- you're in too deep, you need to take a step back, and you need to listen to me!" Draco ran a hand through his hair and turned away from her, pacing across the dungeon.

Zabrina wiped away any trace of confusion from her features, "You know Draco, I thought we had a deal, you said you would never leave me. Remember? Well to me this seems pretty close; I do not enjoy being questioned." She let her eyes bore into him for a moment when he turned to look at her, his expression open and unguarded.

"Zabrina - I- I didn't mean it like that, I just don't want to see anything happen to you. You will get caught- you aren't even doing this privately, this dungeon is hardly safe!"

"Oh Draco" she purred, walking closer to his distressed form, "Even the Dark lord wouldn't be able to see what was going on in this dungeon, everything that happens in here is for my eyes only, I have made certain."

"How can you know that?" He replied, "How can you be so sure, are you really that powerful-"

"Do you even need to ask that?" She interrupted him sharply, "Draco, the Dark Lord has no idea about the things I do, he cannot even read my mind, and the next time I see him I will tell him I have finished his task. You no longer have to worry about Pansy and her friends."

"Is this what this is about?" Draco looked into her eyes with an exasperated expression; he reached out as though to place a hand on her arm but seemed to think better of it. "Zabrina, Pansy is nothing to me, you can torture her all you like, it won't change that fact!"

Zabrina stared at him; they were both quiet for a moment before, suddenly, a small giggle escaped from her lips. It was so unexpected that Draco's eyes widened in surprise.

"What-?" He began but the witch in front of him was now descending into uncontrollable laughter.

"Oh Draco!" She gasped, "I think I'm going mad, this is our one chance to talk to each other and we spent it arguing and condoning torture, what is wrong with us?"

She looked up at him through lashes framed by the tears of her recent mirth. He gazed down at her a glazed expression on his face, suddenly her words seemed to penetrate through the fog.

"What do you mean our one chance to talk to each other?" he demanded

"Well I meant what I said," she replied. "My magic on this room prevents the Dark Lord from seeing anything that transpires within these walls. Its-" she broke off suddenly as Draco stepped forward, closing the gap between them. Before she could step away, he really did reach out and hold her arms, his grip was firm and for once, she wasn't sure what she should do.

Before she had a chance to question him he glared at her and then, suddenly his lips were upon hers in a fleeting, hard, possessive kiss that made her mind reel with the shear passion that filled the room, that filled her. And just like that his lips were gone and she felt their loss like a bereavement. She thought she had heard him whisper "bloody hell" as he had leaned in but she couldn't be sure because when she brought her awareness back to the room he was already moving toward the door.

"I still have to complete my task for him but you are done, understand? If I catch one whiff of an unforgivable in this castle I'll find you, and you'll be sorry!" And with that parting shot he slammed the door behind him as he left.

She would have found his words insulting; she should have found his actions worse. But she couldn't help but let herself smile at the wink he had thrown her way as he left the room. She felt hot at the thought of it, flustered, completely and utterly off her guard, and she found she liked it a lot more than she had ever expected. Allowing herself a moment to smile at the thought of Draco 'punishing' her again, she made her way to the dungeon door. Closing it behind her, she let her face fall into a dark glare and she stormed towards the common room, after all, there were appearances to keep up.

And the Dark Lord must not suspect a thing.


	7. The Summons

Chapter Seven – The Summons

Draco signed up to stay at Hogwarts over the Easter holidays and Zabrina had planned to copy him but to her disgust, her mother summoned both her and Tommy home. It was frustrating because Zabrina knew Draco would need as much support and encouragement as possible in this late stage of his task, the only problem was he still seemed reluctant to accept any. He was determined to carry out his assignment unaided and although she respected this she felt that her leaving the castle was an unnecessary strain on their continually tense relationship.

She was disappointed to hear, on her return to Grimmauld Place, that her mother was having one of her 'moments' and had retired to her bed requiring her children to wait on her. The reason for this was that the Dark Lord had requested their presence at Malfoy manor. He had not given a date but it did not seem likely that they would be allowed to delay for too long. It appeared that the Dark Lord was going to request their unyielding loyalty, and they were therefore going to be required to fully commit to picking a side. Zabrina knew that her own feelings on this did not matter, she had plans herself that could continue whether they were on the side of the Dark Lord or not, however Tommy was still ignorant of the connection and her mother was obviously having a crisis of conscience.

Things were brought to a head when, one evening at dinner, Evangeline had been persuaded to join them and Zabrina broached the subject. There was, of course, a huge argument mostly orchestrated by their mother who flew into one of her raging moods and stormed out of the room. Tommy just turned to Zabrina and asked her what was going on.

"It's quite simple really, dear twin of mine, in fact I'm surprised you have remained so ignorant of it all this time."

Tommy glared at her, they had barely spoken over the last few years, she knew that any ties that bound them as twins were probably on the verge of being severed, but he needed to understand.

"Don't play games with me, I know this has something to do with You Know Who, is it the Malfoys? Have they forced you to join him?"

Zabrina laughed, "Oh Tommy! How could the Malfoys force us to do anything? When we are far more superior than they will ever be. We are decedents of Salazar Slytherin after all."

She allowed her words to sink in for a moment, watching his face fall.

"You can't be serious Zabrina, related to him? It's impossible! You're crazier than everyone says you are!"

Zabrina began to grow angry; she could feel tension in the room rising till it was so strong you could almost taste it.

"Tommy, I am no trying to trick you, lie to you or do any other deceptive Slytherin thing you seem to think me capable of. I am merely warning you of the connection, and your perilous position as a clear follower of Potter and his stupid friends.

It is probably best if you stay at Hogwarts or at friends houses as much as possible, as for me and mother, I think our allegiance will be made quite clear when the time comes."

Tommy just stood and gaped at her. "You... you can't be serious. Zabrina you're my sister, my twin, I know we are clearly very different people, opposites even if you take our houses into account, but how can you even consider this? How can you choose this path when it's so clearly the wrong one?"

"Tommy you don't understand, he is our Grandfather, he is mother's father, and this path was predestined for us. The choice is already made, and anyway, I'm a Slytherin, I would clearly make this choice anyway, it being that all my friends' families are on your so called 'Dark side'.

I'm sorry Tommy but this is the way things are for now, they might not be like this for ever but if you go the way I think you are going to then we will end up on opposing sides of a war. I think you should talk to mother, get the whole story."

Tommy looked as though anger was conquering his other emotions.

"You can't do this Zabrina, I will find a way to stop this, to stop you if needs be. You can count on it." With the finality of that utterance he left the room, the door slamming shut behind him.

Evangeline was up and making breakfast the next morning when Zabrina entered the kitchen. This was strange in itself but more so was the look of steely determination on her mother's face, it did not bode well.

"Good morning!" Zabrina trilled, not allowing any surprise to show on her face as she swept into the room.

"Morning," Evangeline was brisk, stranger and stranger Zabrina thought.

"Your brother has gone to stay with friends; we had a long talk last night and decided that it would be for the best. As for me I am planning on writing to the Dark Lord to inform him that I am too ill to leave the house but that my daughter stands for me in my stead, how do you feel about that?"

Zabrina almost let her surprise appear on her face, her mother had deteriorated rapidly since Sirius's death, and Zabrina had not expected her to be able to come to such an efficient decision.

"I know this is hard for you, Mother, but I have already proceeded down that path so I am willing to do as you say, don't worry about anything. I will take care of it, and the Dark Lord will be unaware that you are anything but bedridden."

Evangeline gazed at her for a few moments, as though weighing up everything within her daughters words. "Good, I am glad we can agree," she mentioned briskly, before continuing with breakfast, the conversation apparently over.

Zabrina wondered how much her mother knew, or suspected, of Zabrina's power, and what side her mother really thought she was on. Little did she know that Zabrina had her own side, and really none of this mattered in the grand scheme of things.

None of it mattered at all.

* * *

Zabrina stormed up the gravel path towards Malfoy Manor, rage crackling around her with an intensity that could ignite at any moment. Her dark green cloak swirled around her, revealing a glimpse of the matching robes beneath, figure hugging and tailored to perfection. Zabrina had her armour on.

Her long black hair seemed almost full, heavy with the intensity of her emotions, her magical presence was so strong that the doors to the manor burst open before her, almost exploding off their thousand year old hinges, and yet her features betrayed nothing. Her face was eerily still, calm, and brimming with menace.

She glided into the dining room where a meeting was taking place with as much grace and poise as if she were one of them, in fact, she was infinitely superior to any of them and the thought made a cruel smirk twitch, lightly at the corner of her mouth.

"What are you doing here?" One of his followers challenged her but she ignored him and headed to the top of the room where her grandfather was standing.

"To what do I owe this rude interruption?" He asked his voice calm and serene, his anger visible in the ugly twist of his face.

"My family was _summoned_." She spat the word out as though it was clad in a bad taste.

"I am here as a representative of my family, the rest are disinclined to acquiesce to your request."

"Zabrina" The Dark Lord murmured, "I do not think it is appropriate for you to interrupt us like this, please wait outside until I am inclined to speak wit-"

"I would rather not, you see if I am just going to be summoned at your will whenever it occurs to you to do so I would rather have some sort of reason behind it, you are basically treating me like one of your mindless Death Eaters and yet I am not privy to anything that occurs here. Rather unequal don't you think?"

She wondered how he would react at her blatant childish tantrum, she was not sure he had told his followers as yet what their connection was, it would be interesting to see how he handled this.

The Dark Lord eyed her for a few moments before allowing his face to fall into what, for him, resembled a smile.

"As you can see, my dear followers, my granddaughter has a thirst to prove herself; she is truly committed to my cause. You would all do well to take note. I think she will be quite useful in stirring up the young blood at Hogwarts to join us."

Zabrina smiled back before taking the seat that someone had conjured for her, it was placed at the Dark Lords right hand side, a courtesy measure surely but still noted none the less. She listened to the rest of their discussions with a bored disinterest that led to everyone thinking she was just a spoiled brat the Dark Lord was choosing to indulge, not really worth their notice at all.

It was not long before Draco managed to fix the vanishing cabinet. Zabrina had known he could do it, but it was a tricky job and had taken all his will and some of his sanity to complete it. This made it an achievement worth celebrating in itself but there were other things that must be accomplished first. Dumbledore's death for one. When Draco came down the stairs from the astronomy tower, following Professor Snape, Zabrina saw in his eyes that he had not done what was required of him. She also knew that their time was up, no more incognito, sides had to be picked. She couldn't wait to see the look on that Hermione Granger's face.

The battle was still raging around them and Zabrina looked down from her secluded position at the top of the stairs, she had Draco with her, they were hidden there and Harry had already gone rampaging past them after Professor Snape.

"Come on Draco I think it's time to depart." She whispered and he nodded back listlessly.

Upon stepping out from her hiding place several curses immediately made their way towards Zabrina, they were just being fired of randomly now but she was sure that a few had come from Death Eater wands, she would have to deal with that later. Shielding them both with a bubble of magic Zabrina looked down at the small pockets of fighting that continued, Hermione's eyes met hers,

"Zabrina!" the girl called, "leave Malfoy, he's not worth it, come and help us!"

It took allot of effort for Zabrina to not curse her then and there, but she resisted.

"Hermione, I don't really see why I would even think of joining you when you clearly have no idea what love, family or honour actually means. Do you think I would just walk away from all my friends, from my life, just for you?"

Zabrina could see the girl looking confused. The Death Eaters were beginning to make their way towards the exit now, the fighting lessening.

"But..." Hermione stuttered, "You lived with us, in the holidays, I was nice to you. Why would you turn on us?"

"Oh Hermione," Zabrina laughed. "You lived with me, in my house. I allowed you to be there for the sole purpose of gleaning as much information as I could, I would never betray my friends and family, and the Blacks and the Malfoys are both. Do not for one minute think that anything you have done is worth anything. You will lose, and then you will understand what I really mean."

With that, Zabrina blasted the doors that blocked her way aside with the barest flick of her wand. The remaining Death Eaters parted for her and Draco, shielding them from spells and lighting their way as together they strode across the grounds towards the edge of the wards. A formidable shadow looming out behind them.

The next day Zabrina was at her dressing table in her room at Malfoy Manor. She had become such a permanent fixture over the years that this room had been assigned to her, painted in deep shades of green with dark cherry wood furnishings, it was perfect for her. She preferred it much to her room in the dusty halls of house Black where their only house elf spent the majority of his time hiding in the attic rather than actually cleaning. Suddenly the door flew open and Draco burst in.

"I can't stand it Zabrina!" He cried, "I ruined everything, I was supposed to kill Dumbledore and restore my families' good name. Now we are even more of a joke than before. How can I even be in the same room as you? I am not worthy."

With that, he slumped to his knees at her feet, his head in his hands, his body shaking. Zabrina rolled her eyes, oh the drama of teenage boys.

"Draco don't be ridiculous. You performed admirably despite your reluctance to commit murder. And it's not like Dumbledore's still alive is it? So everything turned out perfectly. I think-"

"But don't you see?" He had grabbed her hand and raised his head, his eyes pleading. "I needed to do this and I couldn't, how am I supposed to protect you, support you, If I can't even kill one old man?"

At a glance from Zabrina, he quickly released her hand but she could see that he was in earnest.

"Draco I do understand, but really murder just causes so much inconvenience. At least this way Potter and his friends are still unsure as to where our loyalty really lies, we can help them out if it serves our purposes and they will believe they can trust us. It is always best to hold as many cards to your chest as possible."

"You really think so?" He asked, leaning back and running his hand through his hair in a gesture of exasperation.

"I know so." She replied firmly. "And as for not being able to protect me, I am quite sure that if the need arose you would perform admirably. I have faith in you Draco."

This time she reached out and took his hand, just as it was on its way towards his hair again. He gazed glumly at their entwined fingers and she could see that there was still a certain amount of self doubt waging war with a lack of confidence, rolling around in his mind.

"I wish I could be the man you see me as Zabrina. I don't deserve you." He stood slowly, letting go of her hand, and made his way in quiet dejection, from the room.


	8. The Uncertainty

Chapter Eight – The Uncertainty

Zabrina decided to extend her stay at Malfoy manor. Now that she was no longer playing the double agent and the Dark lord had come out on top she saw no reason to holiday at Grimmauld Place. For now, she just wanted to spend time with Draco and continue her research into advanced magical practices and the darker arts. The only problem was that Draco was still moping around the manor, utterly dejected because he had failed to become a murderer. Zabrina found this hard to digest.

Magic was so much more that life and death, magic was power. It was there to be wielded and it did not matter how or why or to what purpose, all that mattered was that it was there. It irritated Zabrina that Draco had not managed to accept this, that he still thought of the Dark Lord as his master, when really her narrow-minded grandfather's days were numbered.

Zabrina began to spend time socialising with the new Death Eaters. There were more now that the Dark Lord was clearly in power, and many of them were Zabrina's Hogwarts contemporaries. It was up to her to play hostess and entertain these Slytherin boys whilst Narcissa was kept busy attending to the Dark Lord and to his more high ranking followers when the man himself was not in residence.

Marcus Flint took a particular interest in Zabrina. At first, she did not notice that his interest was growing more persistent, she didn't really think anyone would dare to pursue her. Not when it was becoming common knowledge throughout the Dark Lord's ranks, just whose granddaughter she was. However, Marcus didn't seem to care. He had a thirst for knowledge and a constant need to advance that Zabrina rather admired, she told him so on occasion and enjoyed seeing the way he puffed up at the compliment.

One evening there was an important meeting, the Dark Lord was going to make an example of Charity Burbage, the muggle studies professor. Zabrina was helping Narcissa pour drinks afterwards whilst Draco, shaken and withdrawn, was lurking in the corner of the room with his fourth fire whisky already almost drained. Suddenly there was a hand on her waist.

"Zabrina." A deep voice murmured close to her ear. She whipped round,

"Marcus." she replied, stepping lightly out of his reach whilst poring a drink to cover her action. "Here, would you like another?" She held it out to him and he raised it in toast before her, his eyes boring into her. She did not like the way he seemed to see right through her. Most people were intimidated by her, and did not quite catch her eye. Marcus however, must have been more stupid than he looked.

"Did you read the passage I marked in _Unfogging the Future_?" He asked

She rolled her eyes, "Yes of course but I entirely disagree with the theory, I have no idea why you hang onto the idea of prophesy so much anyway, it's far from an exact science!"

Marcus scowled slightly. "The Dark Lord relies heavily on prophesy, he sets great store in-"

"Oh Marcus!" Zabrina laughed, she had noticed Draco start to list slightly to the right and knew he was going to need an arm to lean on in a few moments. "You know I like to argue a point as much as the next witch but really, prophesy is such a dead end I doubt you could ever convince me! If you will excuse me."

She hurried across the room towards a drooping blonde head and must have missed Marcus's mumbled, "Is that a challenge?"

The evening went on till late but Zabrina retired early after putting Draco into bed. Reflecting on her day she laughed a little at the turn her life had taken, serving drinks to people and arguing about dubious branches of magic with her fellows, it was all so... normal. She resolved to be much more unpredictable in the future, before falling fast asleep.

The next day Zabrina had a long lie in and took breakfast in her room, she then decided to have a bath. Leaving her wand on her bedside table, she proceeded to relax away the tension in the frothy water. Stepping into a light robe, she wandered into her room, and stopped dead in her tracks. She was not alone.

"Marcus, what an unpleasant surprise. What can I do for you?"

"You know why I'm here, don't try to deny it. You slipped away early last night but I knew when you weren't at breakfast you were sending me a message." He growled.

"A message?" Her laugh coming out shrill and high "What message would that be? That I wanted to be alone to enjoy my morning?"

He looked at her for a moment and then in two strides he had crossed the room and had grabbed her by the wrists. Zabrina felt immediate disgust well up within her, only Draco had ever touched her, to let this idiot do so in such a repulsive manner didn't bear thinking about.

"Let go of me Marcus, I don't know what's got into you. Your behaviour is ridiculous!"

"I know you say that but your pretty words are just covering up what you really mean. What about all those compliments you paid me? All the discussions we had. You think I was reading all those books for fun?"

His grip on her wrists was becoming painful, Zabrina glanced at her wand but it was too far away, she had never been without it, ever. What had made her feel so relaxed here, amongst all these Death Eaters? Marcus's eyes were full of some kind of lustful delusion, she realised now that he had never seen her as someone to fear or respect, he just saw her as an idiot girl that he longed to undress, nothing more.

"Please let go Marcus, I really think you might have the wrong idea, I was only being nic-"

"No!" He shouted, all sense of reason leaving him he thrust her towards the chaise lounge, her body slammed into it, her head bouncing of the back and his body weight followed soon after, effectively trapping her. Zabrina began to fight, she kicked and shook her head but he had her so tightly pinned it was useless. Just as she was about to give up hope the was a loud bang and Marcus flew off her.

"Avada Kedavra." Draco's voice was steady, and barely above a whisper. Zabrina jumped up from where she was lying only to see Marcus's body crumple as Draco's spell hit him right in the heart. There was silence for a moment; Draco eyed the figure in disgust.

"You were right; it came easily when I needed it to."

He looked at her then and rushed to her side "Are you alright? Did he hurt you?"

"I-" Zabrina was too shocked to say anything so she sat down in rather a hurry. "Draco I- Thank you. I knew you could do it, I told you that before I- I didn't have my wand, how- how could I not have my wand?"

"Shhhhh calm down, it's not your fault; no one could expect you to be attacked in your own room. You don't have to have your wand all the time."

He sat down next to her and they both stared at Flint's lifeless body. "Well" Draco said, "I'm pretty sure this will get me back in your Grandfather's good books at any rate!"

Zabrina looked at him, shock written all over her face, "Draco!" She laughed, hitting him playfully on the shoulder. He smirked at her, his grey eyes dancing with a new-found confidence.

"Pretty sure saving the Dark Lord's Granddaughter trumps killing one of his lowly death eaters so I should be fine, you just have to tell him that there was nothing you could do and he had you completely trapped."

"Draco he really did have me trapped, without you -"

"I know" he whispered, more serious now. "But no one would believe me if I said that. You, without your wand?" He elbowed her gently, "everyone knows that it's a pretty impossible occurrence for you not to be in control, so don't worry about it."

Zabrina smiled at him, "Thank you" She said, and they gazed at each other for a moment.

Draco looked away first, seemingly slightly embarrassed by the intensity of their situation; Zabrina's robe had slipped casually from her shoulder. "Right." He said, "If you are truly fine I'll get this rubbish out of here." He gestured to Flint and winked at her before levitating the body through the door, following behind it.

Zabrina sighed; she stood and smoothed down her crumpled robe and her long, dark hair. With the smallest of flicks of her wrist, her wand zoomed into her hand. She twirled it gently through her fingers and laughed loudly, not a trace of her earlier ordeal could be detected on her features. She had wondered if it would work, surely Draco must know that a little thing like no wand couldn't stop her. But, and here she laughed again, he really did want to protect her, it would probably be a while before he admitted to himself, that deep down he knew she really hadn't needed his protection at all.

With a satisfied smirk Zabrina proceeded to curl her hair. Prophesy, really, any more of that rubbish and she would have had to have killed the boy herself. The sheer boredom would have driven her to it.

* * *

Zabrina sighed and rolled onto her other side. Then she threw herself onto her back on her bed and glared at the canopy above. She was wearing her least exciting dress, this was what passed for casual in her wardrobe, of course it was still floor length, dark velvet, but casual compared to the others. She was bored, bored out of her mind stuck in this castle. Draco had not returned to school, he was a proper Death Eater now, his task at Hogwarts complete and the Dark Lord's faith in him somewhat restored he had joined the ranks at his parents side, whilst Zabrina had been sent back to school like a child. She had asked if she could take her Newts early but that would have drawn too much attention to her apparently. It was ridiculous; everyone knew what side she was on, what she must have learned. Now all she had to do was lie on her bed, skipping class and thinking. And thinking was what she most definitely did not want to do, as all thoughts led to Draco and the summer they had spent together, and his absence hurt her more than she cared to admit.

Meanwhile in Malfoy manor, Draco was doing all he could to concentrate on thoughts of Zabrina. It was all that got him through, a whisper of her voice in his dreams, her smile, hopelessly rare yet stronger than any love potion, he was sure of it. He could drown in that smile, it would carry him under so fast he wouldn't even know what had happened, he was pretty sure it already had. The Dark Lord was in charge of the Ministry now; everyone knew it, though the change had happened seamlessly. Those that sensed the change and wanted to be on the correct side were already rushing to their metaphorical doors, begging to be allowed to serve.

The snatchers were out in full force and the muggleborns were in a worse state than ever, all on the run or in hiding. Zabrina had a strange attitude to mudbloods, Draco mused. She accepted the fact that purebloods were on top as they should be, but she herself did not really care who a person was or how muddy their blood. Really all that she looked for was usefulness, and wherever it came from it would be rewarded, it was she who wished to be the highest, the top of the food chain, and all who were beneath her were just that, beneath her notice. All were fair game when she chose to play. Draco smirked slightly, remembering her ruthlessness when it had come to learning the unforgivable curses, he had been shocked at her antics then, but now, after all he had seen, he admired her stoicism.

Had it really been only last year that he had kissed her? It felt like a lifetime ago. Since their experience with Flint they had become closer in many ways, but not in that one, and Draco would never dare to step over the boundaries that she had put in place upon their friendship. She would let him know when she was ready, if ever, and he had come to respect her for that. She was more than just a girl he could kiss and have a relationship with, she was a queen. And his feelings for her centred primarily upon worship, tinged with lust, and with a rather large drop of envy thrown in.

It was useless to think these thoughts though; Draco sighed and pulled himself upright in his chair where he had been lounging. The Dark Lord was very much in power, it would be a long time before Zabrina had the chance to become anything more, and for now, she was miles away from him. And he had a job to do. Slowly he dragged himself out of his chair and made his was down to the dungeons where the latest wrongdoer was waiting. As the hopeless individual's screams ripped into his skull, Draco did all he could to concentrate on thoughts of Zabrina, it was all that got him through this torture.

* * *

It was the Easter holidays and Zabrina was spending them at Malfoy manor. Draco was quite withdrawn; she knew he was struggling under the weight of the responsibilities the Dark Lord placed upon him, more so due to his father's continued disgrace. It irritated Zabrina to know that someone could force Draco to do things he didn't want to do, to make him into someone he didn't want to be. Zabrina glared at her reflection in the mirror of her dressing table, how long must she endure? How long before there was some chance of retribution for all the wrong that had been done to them?

Suddenly there was a knock on the door and she composed her features into a pleasant sort of passiveness. Draco entered looking shaken.

"Draco what is it? What's wrong?

"Its them, Potter and his friends, I think their downstairs!"

"What? They can't be, surely they wouldn't be stupid enough to get caught!"

"I don't know! Bellatrix just sent for me to go and identify them, they want to be sure before they call... Him." Draco ran a hand through his hair and began to pace in circles. "What do I do Zabrina?"

"The important thing to do is to stay calm, Draco." Zabrina thought quickly, knowing that the boy in front of her was unravelling rapidly. "Try to delay as long as possible, put doubt in their minds. I will stay out in the hall, in case there is anything I can do, I will be watching I promise. Go now, Draco, before they call him."

"But shouldn't we just let him come? Let it all be over? Isn't this supposed to be what we want? We are on his side after all Zabrina!"

"Yes but Draco, Potter is someone the Dark Lord is unsure of, I know he is my Grandfather but the way he handles authority is appalling. Maybe he needs to meet his match. At the very least, we need to give Potter an even playing field, to let him try. Not have him caught on enemy territory like someone who doesn't even matter!"

Draco looked at her for a moment before nodding, resolution written across his features as he turned and strode from the room.

Zabrina paused for only a moment before leaving the room in a whirl of green robes. Fortunately, she bumped into just the right person when she did so.

Hermione's screams echoed through the manor. It was vulgar, Zabrina thought, to let ones mad aunt torture people in public. There really needed to be some boundaries in this household. Casting a quick Imperio over the hapless Wormtail she sent him off to do her bidding, it was not long before that bore fruit. Unfortunately the chandelier hadn't managed to kill Bellatrix but, not everything could go ones way Zabrina supposed. At least Draco had stayed strong, and she had managed to whisk him out of their and up to her room before the Dark Lord had arrived. They were sitting together now, on her dark green bedspread, the screams of the others echoing through the corridors.

"I should be there too!" Draco moaned, tearing his hands through his hair, his face wretched. "I should be their taking punishment too; my parents shouldn't have to go through that!"

"Draco" Zabrina said, slightly exasperated. "Your parents wouldn't want you to be hurt, it would make them ashamed, their job is to protect you, fortunately I'm around to help with that!"

Tying to lighten the mood hadn't really worked, and in all the commotion Draco had lost his wand, something that Zabrina found hard to imagine and it made her rather angry. Sighing she stood and went towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Draco asked

"To tell one of those useless death eaters to dig the grave for Wormtail, someone has to keep things moving around the place, honestly!"

With that she swept from the room, leaving Draco staring after her, a slight look of uncertainty creeping across his features.


	9. The Takeover

Chapter Nine – The Takeover

Fortunately for Zabrina, she did not have to worry about being bored for long when she returned for the final term at Hogwarts. One night Draco sent word to her that the Dark Lord was advancing upon the school, it was the news she had hoped for, as long as Potter was ready. She prowled the halls, noticing a distinct lack of teachers, until suddenly near the room of requirement, people burst forth. Shrinking into the shadows, she watched unobserved. So this was the moment, they had come to fight, and probably to die.

As the battle raged, Zabrina stayed within the castle. She had yet to find Draco and this worried her slightly, he didn't know the extent of her plans and she didn't want him to do something rash or foolish. Placing a strong protection spell upon herself Zabrina continued to search, it was made difficult, however by the amount of people in the castle, she didn't want to end up duelling anyone from either side, she just wanted to stay out of it. For now.

Suddenly, once more near the room of requirement, Zabrina literally stumbled upon Draco. He was coughing and slightly sooty, lying on the floor and breathing deeply. Goyle was lying in the corner apparently unconscious. Quickly conjuring a goblet she cast aguamenti and handed Draco the drink, she then cast a scourgify and rejuvenated him with a few flicks of her wand.

"It was Potter." Draco rasped from dry lips, "He saved me, risked his own life and everything!"

Zabrina smiled. "Didn't I tell you Draco, it would be useful to leave them guessing as to our true loyalties?" She felt the sensation of satisfaction creep over her, this couldn't have worked out more perfectly, and Draco was alive because of it.

As the battle raged on and then died down in the wake of the Dark Lord's speech, Zabrina, Draco and Goyle took refuge in the Slytherin common room. It was empty of their banished housemates and being underground was untouched by the battle. When Draco went to the bathroom Zabrina imperiused Goyle and sent him upstairs to keep a look out, she needed to know what was happening. She told Draco that Goyle had volunteered for the job. She ordered Goyle to imperious another student and sent that student to fetch the banished Slytherins. She would need as many people as possible for the plan that was forming in her mind.

Soon it was time. She encouraged Draco to go to the Great Hall with her; together they stood at the back of the room watching the final showdown between Potter and the Dark Lord. She smiled when the mortal man's dead body hit the floor. She had won.

In the aftermath of the battle people were all congregating in the great hall, either congratulating each other or mourning their dead. Zabrina ensured that all the key players had remained in the hall, she could see her brother Tommy in the crowd, surrounded by Gryffindor's, looking shaken. He had not bothered to seek her out whether during or after the battle. She felt a small pang of regret at the loss of her twin, but it couldn't be helped. He had chosen his side; they were so clearly opposites, as he had once said, twins facing two separate destinies. Draco was sitting with his parents looking shaken and confused, as though he wasn't sure he should be there, his parents mirrored his thoughts. Zabrina saw Potter eye them, but he did nothing, grudgingly accepting their presence. Zabrina let her eyes follow the boys form as he moved through the hall, clearly heading for the exit. She would not let him leave.

Without more than the slightest flick Zabrina had sent a spell from her wand towards Draco, causing him to fall into a magical sleep, a bubble of protection also formed around him but that was not visible to the naked eye. Zabrina made her way to the centre of the hall, she took a deep breath and closing her eyes she raised her wand and begun. Her magic poured forth, wrapping itself tightly over all it touched, there were no limits to its reach, her skill in causing many to be placed under a single spell was being tested, and it withstood.

The memory charm she placed over everyone was threefold. Firstly, it had a layer of confundus about it, many people would be confused and disorientated after the battle, and she could play on that. Secondly it made Harry Potter nothing more than who he had been yesterday, he had not been the one to vanquish the Dark Lord, Zabrina had done that, at great personal risk she had knowingly sacrificed herself, and yet had managed to survive. Thirdly, there was a hint of love and loyalty mixed in, these people would believe in her because they had no one else to turn to, Potter would be a distant memory of a chosen one who had not actually been chosen at all. She, Zabrina would be the new chosen one, the one to lead them after all the terror and pain, a young woman who had bravely stood against her family in order to save them all. The spell she cast was deep, and took root so far into their minds that all who heard it from them would believe, so convincing would their love and loyalty be. It would be no time at all before the whole wizarding world knew of her power and grace, and would worship her for it. Draco, she had decided to leave out of the memory charm, she knew she could trust him not to talk out of turn, and she would explain everything to him once they were alone. She knew, of course that minds were dangerous and untrustworthy objects to control and there was no telling whether the charm would act the same on everyone but with so many people, and so much confusion, she knew it would stand a good chance.

She had finally come into her own. Zabrina allowed her magic to continue to flow over the whole castle, basking in the glow of her power, finally unleashed in its entirety, she knew she would never have to rein it in again and the knowledge consumed her. She was giddy with the feeling, magic pulsing, almost visible as it surrounded her, eating into her veins, tapping into her senses. She had won.

When she finally, reluctantly, lowered her wand she could sense a change in the atmosphere of the hall, people where whispering to each other low and quick and for a moment she wondered if her magic hadn't worked. She needn't have worried however, as Kingsley Shacklebolt came over to her and bowed low.

"Thank you, for all you have done for us and the magical community as a whole, thank you. Your magic is great and more than we could ever have hoped for, how can the wizarding world ever repay you?"

She laughed, "Oh I'm sure you'll think of something!"

She smirked at him and then at the hall in general, the whispering was about her, how great her powers must be, how good and strong and bold. The Slytherins that had returned seemed confused when people came over to them, shaking their hands and congratulating them on the accomplishments of one of their own. Soon everyone seemed happier than before, as though they had less cares and woes, even Draco's parent cracked a smile and seemed to loosen up. How could there be anything to worry about when Zabrina was in charge? Yes, people had died but they all felt that if Zabrina asked it of them they would lay their lives at her feet in an instant, so those deaths became great and noble. Her smirk grew wider as she stood in the midst of commotion, listening to how well her spell had worked, it was better than she could ever have hoped, people _loved_ her, they appreciated her more than anyone had done before. She was powerful enough to vanquish the dark lord and yet, instead of fearing her people were _celebrating_ her!

Moving through the crowds she subtly released Draco from his spell, he sat up looking confused and disorientated. She whispered into his ear that he should follow her and together they pushed through the celebrating crowds and out into the entrance hall.

Once outside in the relative silence she turned to face him.

"I took over Draco" she said simply, "I took over and I'm giving you a choice, you can either be with me or against me."

He eyed her with a strange look on his face, she couldn't quite read his expression and this unsettled her slightly.

"Took over?" he whispered, and then his voice grew louder. "Then I'm with you Zabrina, every step of the way, like you knew I would be."

She smiled up at him, not a happy smile but rather a look of triumph and accomplishment, she had done it, and everything was going her way.

"Only one condition though" Draco said smoothly, a dark glimmer in his eyes catching her attention.

"What?" she asked warily, unused to seeing him in any position to bargain, but he knew she needed him.

"Don't ever kill me." He said simply staring at her with a hard look, as though she would whip out her wand and do just that.

She looked at him for a moment; his blonde hair slicked back, his mesmerising grey eyes. He was the one thing that kept her sane in this world she had created for herself, the one thing that kept her grounded, that stopped her from turning out like-

She cut her thoughts off there, and in her confusion, she reached up and grabbed the back of his neck, bringing his head down so that their faces were mere inches away from each other, lips close but not quite touching. For a moment they froze, chests heaving, eyes searching each other for hidden meaning, hidden depths that neither one would conceal verbally to the other. Suddenly she let it all go, just for a moment, and let out a breath that grazed his lips. It broke whatever spell had been holding them apart and he let out a low, guttural growl whilst simultaneously grabbing her waist and drawing her body flush up against him. His lip captured hers before she could do anything, before she could even think if this was what she wanted and she concluded that it must be otherwise she would never have allowed it to get this far.

With every press of his lips upon hers and with every movement between them she felt the ice in her heart shattering piece by piece, she loved him, she knew that already, deep down. However, this sensation was something else; he was stripping her mentally, laying her bare to his intrusions upon her soul. She wasn't sure she liked having nowhere to hide.

His tongue pressed into her mouth, claiming her, moving with her own in a dance that their bodies seemed to instinctively know the steps to. Feeling overwhelmed by the intensity suddenly she knew what to do. Capturing his bottom lip in her own she bit down, hard but not hard enough to draw blood. They broke away slightly, his hands moved to her shoulders as though steadying himself and their breaths came out as pants. It was so unlike their usual interactions that she almost laughed at the absurdity of it all. Was it possible to have all of this, the world and Draco too? She wasn't sure.

"No, I will never kill you Draco." She said. "Although I cannot promise total mercy, should you ever betray me."

"I could never betray you Zabrina, I belong to you." He breathed this out whilst still struggling to control his breath. But after a moment he seemed to stiffen, raising his head and running a hand through his hair, taking a step back from her.

She noticed then, that people had begun to drift into the entrance hall. Most just seemed happy to be alive but others were looking at her, not with derision at the passionate embrace they had just witnessed but with reverence, and expectation. I was in that moment that Zabrina knew she held more power than she had ever hoped to achieve with just one spell. And she became almost giddy with the feel of it, the authority and leadership that came with these people looking to her, wanting her to lead. It was as though she had been crowned a queen.

* * *

It did not take long for that passing thought to become a reality. It was as though she _were_ a queen. People were treating her with respect and love more than she had thought possible, she had united the wizarding world under one emotion, and after so much war and fear, they were showing their gratitude in spades. She allowed official Ministry proceedings to progress and when Kingsley was elected Minister she placed him under the Imperius Curse immediately. It was useful to keep him under her thumb whilst she purged the world of any remaining death eaters, and anyone who could possibly oppose or question the world she had created.

She kept Draco by her side as much as possible; he was her only ally, despite the love and affection she was receiving from the wizarding world in spades. Only Draco knew how far she had come, and the lengths it had taken to reach this point, this pinnacle of all she had hoped to achieve. She ordered Kingsley to give Draco work in the ministry and then watched idly as her pawns got to work, twisting and adjusting the wizarding world as she saw fit, one small step at a time.

The summer after her sixth year was a wonderful one for Zabrina. Having come of age several months previously she decided that she had no desire to return to school to complete her education, and being that there was no one to force her to go against her will she granted herself her request. Draco was too busy to go back to school to complete the year he had missed out on; he was working hard in the ministry, ensuring that everything was progressing as smoothly as possible with the takeover. Taking the chance whilst the world was still in a daze of loyalty towards her, Zabrina focussed on herself for a bit, she felt she deserved it, after all. Working tirelessly with a team of builder elves and her own, infinite power she constructed her domain, a castle made entirely of obsidian. Standing outside its imposing walls the structure loomed over her, dominating the landscape with its dark presence and she knew instantly that her father would turn in his grave if he knew she had created a Black Palace in tribute to his hated family name.

Draco had been the first to be invited to view her new home. He had looked at it for a very long time, so long that she grew impatient and began to look past his observant exterior to the nervous tick that betrayed his true feeling. Moments before she decided to question him he broke the silence, exclaiming over how wonderful it was, such a feet of magical engineering. Only the gulp as he swallowed showed any hint of an alternate emotion, and Zabrina was too busy being proud of her achievement to really think on what she had seen with her own eyes.

A crack in his facade.


	10. The Regime

**Remember you can see pictures for this story on my Tumblr, they are all under the hashtag letthemloveandfearme 3**

Chapter Ten – The Regime

"You actually think I should let you live, when you know so much about my past? Really Thorfinn, your stupidity astounds even me, and I had so little in the way of expectation to begin with."

Zabrina was in her element, another runaway death eater had been unable to slip through her clutches and she was enjoying prolonging his torture. There were fewer Death Eaters to be found these days; most had fled when word reached them of the new regime so she was going to make sure Thorfinn Rowle's demise was long and arduous, for him at least.

There was very little in the way of fun to be had when ruling the magical world without anyone actually knowing she was doing so. Kingsley reported to her under the instruction of the Imperius and she decided which law she wanted passed and whom she wanted thrown in Azkaban and really, there wasn't much else to it. She just relished the control, the power that came from being in her rightful place, at the top.

Draco was doing well in the ministry, paving the way for her with his numerous Order contacts that he was managing to secure, life really was easier when you were supposedly dating the 'chosen one'. She smiled as she thought about Hermione Granger's expression if she were to know that the worshipful feelings that she felt for Zabrina which made her suck up to Draco, her department superior, were all part of a spell. Any further advancement could be achieved, Zabrina thought, over time. She was, after all, still young in people's eyes and if she desired to rise to minister of magic in a few years well, the option was entirely open to her. She could really do anything she pleased.

She was interrupted from her pleasant musing by a knock on the castle door. It was dim, heard from a distance and she waited for her house elf to come and tell her who was there. A sharp crack of apparition later and the elf had informed her of the minister's presence. Sighing, Zabrina looked at her half finished torture session with regret.

"Good news Thorfinn, our time together has come to a sudden end, good for you I suppose. I however am going to miss the sound of your screams, so tuneful. Alas-" and with a flick of her wrist his dead body crumpled in a heap at her feet.

Making her way to the entrance hall Zabrina wondered at the Minister's premature presence, he was not due to report for another week yet so something important must have happened. The thought made her speed up, she looked forward to discovering what that could be. Stepping outside onto the steps Zabrina saw Kingsley's unmissable form instantly, though there were suddenly many more figures emerging behind him. Several members of the Order along with Potter, his Weasley sidekick and a few Aurors stood before her, all with wands drawn and looks of hatred upon their faces.

"Zabrina Black we are here to take you into custody following serious allegations made about you and your magic." Kingsley's deep voice sounded loud in the still quiet of the afternoon and it took Zabrina a moment to register what he was saying.

"Whose allegations?" She demanded. "Who could have spoken to you? I have done nothing-"

"We know Zabrina."

Harry Potter had spoken up, clearly furious and, by the looks some people were giving him, speaking out of turn.

"We know you cast a spell on everyone to make them believe you were some kind of _good person_." He sneered the words and she felt a rage building within her, she had been good, far better than her rotting grandfather had ever been, she had allowed them to continue with their lives as though everything was normal, how dare he treat her like some idiot who had played a game greater than herself!

"Potter I would advise you to keep to the plan." Kingsley muttered in warning but it was too late because Potter had uttered what was soon to become his downfall.

"You were betrayed by your own boyfriend! He told us everything! If that doesn't prove that you are nothing better than Tom Riddle's worthless granddaughter then-" but he had gone too far.

With a vicious, upwards movement Zabrina had ripped all their wands from their hands, shattering them in mid-air like a collection of meaningless twigs. The shock on their faces did not register with her as she felt the fiery crush of despair and a ripping, searing pain as her heart shattered into a million pieces and, she could well imagine, cease its beating forever. There was no going back from this, this utter destruction and betrayal that was writhing and twisting within her like some many headed serpent, desperate to be released.

And so release it she did.

Feeling the absence of her once beating heart like a wound she summoned a vortex of swirling black mist, wishing to be as vindictive as possible she imperiused all before her in one fell swoop.

"You are all now going to pay for the mistake of one _fool_."

She spat that word as though it were dirt on her tongue, glaring at the pathetic figures before her as though they were nothing more than ants to be squashed.

"I may be the granddaughter of a wizard with extraordinary power but I never desired to be as evil as him when wielding it over my subjects. However, your coming has brought about a new age in my rule and from this moment your families will wish that Lord Voldemort had not been defeated because he was nothing, nothing in comparison to the lady of darkness that I will grow to be because of this day!"

With that, she directed the imperiused into the swirling, portal-like vortex before her, noting with relish that they disappeared. It was a spell of her own division, they would be thrust into the muggle world, stripped of all power and knowledge of magic and doomed to be lost and forgotten to all who knew them. It was the perfect way to cleanse you of your enemies whilst humiliating them as they sunk into the lowest level of muggle society, unlikely to ever be found.

Zabrina finished the spell when the last person had disappeared. She barely had time to bask in the defeat of her enemies before the burning rage of vengeance consumed her, and she apparated away to destroy the one who had taken her heart and obliterated any hope for her future.

* * *

"You Promised!"

He screamed, his voice horse and his breathing ragged.

"You promised you would never kill me!"

"Yes _Draco_ , and you promised you would never betray me!"

She spat out his name as though it were a blight upon her tongue, her anger clouding her vision and making her wand hand twitch, sending sparks in the direction of her victim, cowering on the floor.

She had arrived only moments ago and already Draco was at her mercy, twitching in the foetal position from the effects of the Cruciatus Curse. He had been home alone, just waiting, she supposed, for the inevitable backlash that his betrayal would bring. Whether it be the ministry at his door telling him that the girl he- the girl he had once been friends with was defeated or, whether it was her and therefore so much worse. Either way he had been waiting, knowing that there was nowhere to run.

"I trusted you Draco, above all others. Ha! To think that I was going to be peaceful, content to spend my days flicking the strings of power with you at my side. How wrong I was!"

She smirked down at him, her features distorted with hate.

"Now I am no longer burdened with the capacity to _feel,_ you have shown me that such things as love or devotion are exactly what my grandfather thought them to be. _Unnecessary_!"

"I will never forgive you Draco, for your betrayal, but I will keep my promise because I am better than you in that respect. You will never see the light of day again and all the while, you will know that it was your foolishness that lead to the destruction of the magical world as we know it, or as it could have been. Without my feelings for you holding me back I can see clearer than ever before and you will rue the day that you ever decided to turn on me."

He was staring at her wide eyed, as though what was before him was of unknown terror and quantity, and she revelled in his fear because if he feared her than she was just like her grandfather and from now on that was what she must strive to be. Only ten times worse.

"Legilimens," she half whispered the word, staring into his eyes and defying herself to feel even a flicker of emotion. She wanted him stripped bare, his every thought hers to claim, vulnerable and exposed like she had been.

In his mind she saw many images, each one fast and frantic as though he was trying to gather it all in order to thrust at her and overwhelm her, but she was skilled in this branch of magic and it did not phase her. Suddenly she landed upon an image of herself, a fission of fear ran up her spine before she realised that it was nothing more than a dream. Before she could move away from it, however, the dream her spoke. "Draco!" it cried, "you saved me!" Then the two figures embraced and she could sense Draco's satisfaction, his pride in his ability to protect her and hold her like he wished too. Without restraint or fear of retribution. Zabrina noted that in the dream she most definitely did not have her wand, she was helpless and allowed herself to be touched and held as though such things were not beneath her. Zabrina felt disgusted; on top of his outward betrayal he had also betrayed her with his own mind. She had though what they shared was special, unique, but in reality, all he wanted was for her to be like any other girl, submissive and controllable. Withdrawing hastily and no doubt painfully from Draco's mind, she did not notice the small and unobtrusive wall that was built up around a tiny, inconsequential part of his time at the ministry.

Breathing heavily Zabrina stared at her once love, she was satisfied that she felt nothing but contempt for him now.

"Rest assured Draco," she whispered, "there has never been anything ordinary about me. I am untouchable and your pathetic fantasies are worthless, especially now after what you have done to me."

His blonde hair was slick against his forehead with sweat and his eyes were filled with something she could not quite place. All of a sudden it came to her, the look in his eyes was hope. He still had faith in her, despite everything, and at that moment, Zabrina vowed to never look into his mind again.

"Goodbye Draco," she whispered before throwing a stunning spell his way.

Levitating him away from the manor, she watched with joy as her fire lit up the sky and ripped apart the core of Draco's power, his inheritance. When the manor was little more than a smouldering wreck she apparated them both to her castle where she threw Draco in the deepest and darkest of her dungeons, then stalked away to wreck havoc on those who wished to destroy her.

* * *

The scent of burning flesh was ripe in her nostrils as she stood, poised and in control as the hundreds of ministry workers flocked around her, doing her bidding like the imperiused puppets they were. Many of them stepped over the corpses of those who had tried to stand in her way, these people had probably been their friends, their colleagues but now they were just rubble lying in the way of those hurrying to do their mistresses bidding. Zabrina threw back her head and laughed as all around her massive, floor length banners unfurled from the ceiling, her beautiful face staring out of each one, the eyes flickering from side to side as they watched and recorded all that went on before them. This was power, this was control, and Zabrina was giddy with it in a way that she had hoped never to be, but now it was all there was for her. The world was at her mercy, and she had none to give.

* * *

 **Five years later**

"Tommy, look out!"

Hermione Granger's shriek caused them all to spin; only to watch helplessly as the two figures whirled and ducked, duelling fiercely with the death eaters. The small band of resistance fighters was composed mostly of those who had been at Hogwarts with Zabrina, and knew her best. However, they were still vastly outnumbered and often out-wand as Zabrina ensured that anyone who opposed her would have their wand obliterated and not given a licence to purchase a new one. She treated magic like it belonged to her, and it was her gift to give it to others and allow them to wield it. Many were now without a wand after little provocation and the wizarding world felt the loss as people struggled to function from day to day. Fear infiltrated the lives of many, smothering their senses with its cold, deep dread.

"Hermione, run. Now!"

Tommy's voice was loud and commanding as he tried to take on the remaining Death Eaters on his own, giving Hermione a chance to get to cover. It had been stupid to launch a mission with only two wands but Ginny had not been seen for three days and things were getting desperate. The Death Eaters were growing in number every day, haunting the streets of every magical town and carrying out the laws of the self styled 'Lady of Darkness' with a vicious ruthlessness that came with being entirely, blindly devoted to her.

Tommy felt the anger pound in his veins as he thought of his twin and allowed his rage to dictate his spell work as, one by one, the Death Eater's before him fell into puddles of blood. Straightening and pausing a moment to wipe the sweat from his eyes he turned and ran after Hermione and the others, he didn't bother to look back at the lives he had claimed. This was the life they lived now and in a world where it was kill or be killed Tommy made damn well sure he was the one who did the killing.

Whatever the cost.

Zabrina stood in the middle of the street, the blood of her recently deceased followers trickling in rivulets between the cobbles. She was angry, angrier than ever because this was anarchy and she would not allow such dissention amongst the ranks.

"Who gave these men their orders?"

She snarled, turning and facing her Death Eaters that knelt before her, heads bowed so that only their shaking backs were visible to her.

"It was Rookwood, your Ladyship."

One of them spoke up and she recognised the voice of Theo Nott, always a favourite of hers at school and now her most favoured weapon at her side.

"And why are they now in pieces at my feet? Did I not say that the resistance were not to be engaged in combat? Have I not expressly forbid my brother's life, stupid though he is, to be risked in any way?"

"Sorry- your ladyship- but it seems to me that it was them that's in pieces whose life was being risked here, resistance got away scot free!"

That was Gregory Goyle's low voice, ever the devoted follower he was still rather stupid and unable to keep his thoughts to himself. She smirked when Theo, without direction, elbowed the idiot sharply in the ribs. Goyle's breath whooshed out and he prostrated himself on the cobbles before her, muttering apologies under his breath.

"I want Rookwood punished painfully." She directed this at Theo as though there had been no interruption, "and have everyone briefed _again_ about the dangers of engaging the rebels in combat, I want them to disappear quietly and without notice, not with a fight to the death in the street. How am I to ensure the smooth ruling of this world when people keep dying in public?"

With a crack of apparition, she was gone, leaving her faithful Death Eaters to clean up the mess. Honestly, this was what she had been trying to avoid by not having followers in the first place.

"Fools!" She snarled to the empty castle as she stalked up the stairs, the only sound the jingling of chains as her personal slave crawled after her. She smiled fondly as the wretch poured her wine and grovelled at her feet, his face disfigured with years of torture, the empty sockets where his eyes had been covered by a scrap of black cloth.

"You would never disappoint me would you my pet?" She crooned lovingly in his direction before flicking her wand and letting his screams wash over her as he scrambled to get out of the way, lest his blood ruin the rug once again. He had been a man once but he had loved his mistress too fiercely, it had clouded his judgment till he had done the unimaginable, the unforgivable. Tried to force himself upon her person.

Zabrina smiled at the memory, it had been in the early days of her rule, when her face had looked down upon the wizarding world reporting all that was said and done straight back to her. It had not taken long for people to realise what opposition meant for them or their families, and the ministry had already crumbled in her wake. This man had thought himself to be above such punishment, had thought that his love for her could possibly be reciprocated and he had paid many, many times over for his folly. After she had taken his eyes, those which had looked upon her in a state of undress, she had broken his limbs and after much torture, allowed him to crawl behind her, a mark of what would happen to any of her followers, should they overstep the boundaries that were placed around her. No man would ever again, be allowed to touch her.

She had been most annoyed because the amorous follower had reminded her so much of an incident, one that seemed like so long ago, when another man had tried to take from her that which she had no desire to give, and had been stopped. These memories stirred up the thought of one who lay, rotting in her dungeon and she commanded a house elf not to serve him food for several days as a punishment for her own feelings. It had only taken several hours before she rescinded the command, cursing her own weakness but still refusing to venture below to see for herself the object of her memories. He was down their still, cared for in health and spirit by her elves but she never allowed herself to see him, she had a terrible feeling that she would crack if put under such pressure and instead allowed her anger at the thought of his betrayal to push her on and obliterate such sentiment from her mind.

"Oh Tommy," She sighed to herself, allowing her thoughts to return to the present and the mess that her brother was making. She could not allow him to be killed, that would be unthinkable, being as he was, her other half. His little resistance movement could not get very far, especially as its members kept disappearing and he could do as he liked, plan his little missions, she would not let them succeed.

The clock chimed on the mantelpiece and Zabrina realised that it was later than she had thought, and she had to go and visit her mother. Evangeline still lived at Grimmauld place, isolated from the wizarding world as she had always been; the havoc which her children were creating passed her by and did not prey upon her conscience. Indeed, Zabrina's takeover of the ministry had been all that was needed to bring Evangeline onto her side. She was proud of her daughter for having stood up to those that had long been their family's enemy and Evangeline chose to ignore any whisper of her father, Tom Riddle, or how like that monster her daughter had become.

"Hello mother."

Zabrina said as she entered the woman's room. Kreacher slipped in to pour them tea and cowered in fear when Zabrina reached for a sugar lump. She smirked at him, knowing that he, at least, knew of her reputation even if her mother chose to remain ignorant.

"Mistress is happy with Kreacher's cakes? Mistress need only say and Kreacher will find her whatever she wishes, Kreacher lives to serve the lady of-"

"That will be all Kreacher!" Zabrina said sharply and then in a lower tone, "now get out of my sight before I decide to give you clothes made out of your own skin."

At her whispered words, Kreacher let out a shriek and ran from the room and Zabrina laughed, eying her mother who remained oblivious to the little exchange.

"So Zabrina, tell me, when did you last see Tommy? He used to be such a good boy, always coming home when I wanted him, now he never answers my letters or pays me a call!"

"Mother you know we have talked about this," Zabrina sighed, exasperated. "Tommy does not believe in the new regime, he is my enemy now and therefore cannot come to the house where I might be for fear of capture. I really wish we didn't have to go over this every time I come for tea!"

Her mother could not seem to wrap her head around the twins division, despite the fact that they had become distant with each other throughout their years at Hogwarts, in her mind they were still the two tiny children who had been inseparable growing up.

"Zabrina you should really try to mend bridges with Tommy, I'm sure if you just let me explain your ministry work to him he would underst-"

"Mother!"

Zabrina had had enough.

"If Tommy were to enter this house right now he would try to kill me, I spent the morning lamenting the loss of my friends which Tommy himself slaughtered in cold blood. There are no bridges anymore, the gulf between us is too great and I for one am Sick. Of. Hearing. Your. Misguided. Opinions."

She said the last bit with as much menace as she could muster and watched with satisfaction as her mother began to wilt under her glare. Sometimes Zabrina wanted to drag her mother out of bed and show her what the world outside was like, show her how high her daughter had risen, how the streets could wash with blood after one whisper of a command from her daughters lips. But it was not to be, Zabrina did not think her mother's mind could stand another Obliviate. It was already weak and confused from the last two times Zabrina had cracked and shown the woman her true self.

The blood had stained Diagon Alley red the last time, she thought, with wicked satisfaction.


	11. The Dungeon

**This will be my last chapter until Monday as I am away for a bit. Considering turning this into a Dramione in the hopes that more people may actually want to read it, it's a sad and lonely world for an evil OC, even one as epic as Zabrina. (I am sooo modest.)**

Chapter Eleven – The Dungeon

The darkness pressed heavily on his eyes as he struggled to see across the dimly lit corridor. Someone was crying in the cell opposite and it was disturbing the quiet that he had long since relied upon to be a constant down here in the depths of the dungeons.

"Who's there?" Draco whispered through the bars on the small grate, blinking as his eyes began to adjust to the gloam.

Suddenly there was a flash of red and a mess of Weasley curls were visible through the grate on the other door.

"Malfoy?" She whispered, her voice hoarse and bearing the tremor of one who had been crucioed many times over. "Is that you? Everyone thought you were dead. I guess the cold bitch has a heart after all." She laughed, a painful, unpleasant sound that ended in a choking cough. Draco did not think she sounded as though she had long to live.

"I would appreciate you not using such language about her in front of me. We may be sharing a dungeon but do not think for one second that we are also sharing opinions." Draco's voice was harsh and cold, much more so than it had ever been in 'that other life' as Ginny liked to think of it. Clearly imprisonment had tested Draco Malfoy, and she wondered as to what those tests had revealed.

"Come off it!" She tried to scoff, inwardly cursing the tremor in her once strong voice. "There's a reason everyone thinks you're dead, they say that she tortured you in your own manor, before seizing all your assets and burning your whole family alive, you included. A woman scorned, and all that..." Ginny trailed off, hoping that her pause sounded dramatic and did not reveal that, in fact, she had just ran out of breath.

There was silence for a moment and Ginny wondered whether he was going to say anything further. She leaned on the door, trying to steady herself and ignore the pains that were threatening to overwhelm her.

"Is it really so bad up there?" The voice was so quiet she almost missed it, and she heard something of the cowardly Malfoy from her memory echoed in it.

"Yes Malfoy it really is. They say that your betrayal led to the end of the wizarding world. Half the ministry vanished that day, as well as-as Harry and my... well lots of people. She controls everything, even magic; I haven't had a wand for over a year now!"

"She- she wanted to be good, she wanted to be better than him, this is all my fault I-"

"Don't be stupid Malfoy!" Ginny coughed, outrage making her breathing difficult. "She would have done this anyway, look at who her grandfather was! You just speeded up the process. Although there are some that talk about the good old days and they don't mean before all this, they mean right after the end of the war when everyone was spelled. I guess people will feel nostalgia for anything once." She trailed away, thinking of that time and the artificial joy that had dictated life, the confusion when she tried to think about Harry being the chosen one too closely. The memory loss when she had blacked out from thinking too hard about anything before...

"I don't think I believe you. Not really, she might want to be in control, to be all powerful but she has her reasons, and if it punishes blood traitors and the like then who am I to complain!"

Draco sounded more confident now, the moment of weakness passed and he moved to turn away from the bars and go back to his bed, away from the filth that occupied his space.

"She's a Weasley," he reasoned to himself, "she doesn't want anyone to be better than her because she already thinks she's the best. For all I know she's trying to trick me into saying something in anger, speaking out. I won't fall for that!" Draco resolved to ignore her and threw himself down on the hard mattress hoping for the sweet release of sleep.

Over in the other cell Ginny's hacking laugh and subsequent coughing fit echoed through the dungeons and penetrated his dreams long after he had pulled a pillow over his ears and fallen into a fitful slumber.

* * *

"We saved her for you, your Ladyship. A surprise present." Theo really knew just how to please her, Zabrina mused as she looked at the ragged form of Ginny Weasley, prostrate on her drawing room floor.

"Thank you Theo, a welcome gift I assure you. Idle hands like to wring necks."She smiled at him cruelly and noted with satisfaction the slight shake to his fingertips and the gulp in his throat as he bowed himself out of the room.

"Now Ginny, seeing as it's just the two of us how about I un-gag you and release your bonds? Just for fun of course." With a flick of her wrist, Zabrina did just that and watched the girl try to sit up, her strength ultimately failing her. After watching the pitiful attempts for a few moments, Zabrina grew bored.

"Crucio" she uttered playfully and watched the girl writhe, on the floor again after having spent so much energy getting up, she had only crashed back down.

"Before I kill you, be a dear and tell me where another member of your little resistance group is hiding. I would so love to get Hermione Granger; she always was a thorn in my side. Her disappearance would really irk my dear brother; I hear she is his second in command?"

Ginny stared up at her through the tears that were involuntarily streaming down her face, "I will tell you nothing, but of course you know that anyway and you will take my thoughts whether I want you to or not!"

"Well well," Zabrina smiled, "You have done your homework. Legilimens!"

Upon entering the Weasley girls mind, she was expecting to see home, family, and the other mundane thoughts that seemed to occupy the minds of those who were so much less than she was. What she did not expect, however, was to be blasted with what appeared to be every image and memory Ginny possessed of Draco Malfoy.

Draco playing quidditch, Draco throwing a hex at Gryffindors, Draco laughing cruelly across the great hall, Draco in the Ministry talking animatedly with a slim brunette, Draco's voice... Different now and coming across a dark corridor and yet so inherently _him_ that the absence of a visual only heightened his presence in the memory. With a start, Zabrina ripped herself from the girls mind. She felt so overwhelmed that she had to turn away, she hated the sensations that were coursing through her and she did not want a witness to the expression she was sure must now be upon her face.

Ginny laughed, a horrible scratching sound. "He's locked up down there still worshiping you and you threw all that away for what? For blood and pain and endless, pointless torture? For the pursuit of power that you already possess? Your life is pathetic and you know what? I- I actually pity you!"

Zabrina hesitated as the girls words struck a chord deep down within her soul, in a place that she had long thought to be gone. She had let her hand lower slightly when Ginny had started talking but now she raised it again. Suddenly wanting to be alone she slashed her wand absent-mindedly in the girls direction, not even bothering to watch as the life drained from her face.

Something had changed, and that in itself was a force to be reckoned with, a force Zabrina was not quite sure she could withstand.

* * *

In his cell, Draco stared numbly at the wall in front of him, pondering all that Ginny had said. He had been awake when they had come for her, laughing about how the Mistress would give a traitor like her what she deserved. Draco knew whom they were talking about.

Once again, Draco wondered at the path that had led him to betraying her, that girl who was so much more to him than friend or lover. So much more than he could ever hope to claim and yet still, somehow within his reach. Or so she had been before that witch- but no, Draco thought, angry with himself at the direction his thoughts had taken him. He had told himself he would never again think of that time in the ministry, when everyone around him had been worshiping Zabrina falsely, when people who had previously been indifferent to him had fawned over him just for having some supposed connection to _her_.

His time in the dungeon had been long, but not without fruition. He had been allowed to read, books that the house elves had brought him, and his mind had expanded to consider possibilities far wider than his constrictive high school education had ever allowed him. He wished for a moment that he could go back and change the way things had played out, could make himself into the man he was sure he was now. One far better and more worthy than the boy he had been before. He thought that, perhaps now he could understand Zabrina a little better, maybe even understand her more than she understood herself.

He knew now what a cowardly fool he had been for betraying her.

Oblivious to Draco's internal struggles and continuous wrestling with his daemons, Zabrina paced her castle, daring anyone to disrupt her foul mood. She had learned nothing from Ginny about the whereabouts of other resistance members, the girl had got blood on the rug when she expired and, on top of everything, Zabrina was beginning to realise that her heart was not gone, just broken. Something she had never anticipated.

Suddenly a house elf appeared, muttering under its breath and tweaking the corner of its tea towel nervously. Zabrina sighed, could she never have a moment's peace? This was the problem caused by having to hire elves rather than using a family one, they were all so pathetic.

"What?" She snarled at the snivelling creature, watching with satisfaction as tears began to pool in its ugly, bulging eyes.

"Please, Mistress, the deputy Minister is at the door, he- he is saying it is urgent!"

"Argh! Fine show him up, but make sure he puts his wand into the box at the front door, I want him helpless before me!"

With a crack, the elf was gone and Zabrina sat down in a large winged armchair to await her visitor. Soon the cowering, balding man was brought before her, he had been so willing to submit to her at the beginning, when the Imperio had dulled his senses and diluted his fear. Gradually she had lessened her curse, especially when she had gathered her own Death Eaters and sent them out to do her bidding. It had been easier to slit a few throats than to be constantly renewing spells on people that did not deserve to be within spitting distance of her person.

"I trust you have a valid reason for disturbing me swine?" She snarled, watching as the man began to sweat and shake even more so than before.

"Your Ladyship I- I have been sent to warn you, release Ginny Weasley or you-you will d-die!"

His shaking voice and reluctance in speech suddenly alerted Zabrina to the fact that he was indeed under the Imperius Curse, though not one of her own. Intuition prickling her senses she threw up a powerful shield but not before the quivering man had reached into his pocket and detonated the muggle devise he wore under his robes. The blast threw her off her feet but her shield protected her from the flames and the debris. Her wretch, who had been cowering at her feet as he always was, unnoticed and ignored by most, he had not been so lucky. From where she had fallen Zabrina saw the two corpses ripped apart and burning before her, but the scream of anger that wrenched from her throat was not uttered due to the loss of their miserable lives.

"My castle you bitch! Hermione Granger I will get you!"

Filled with such a rage as to make her appear inhuman to anyone who was unfortunate enough to look upon her, Zabrina apparated away. Ripping through her own wards and leaving the smoking wreck of her favourite drawing room smouldering behind her.


	12. The Aftermath

**Ooh it _has_ been a while! I hope that people are enjoying reading this, it really is my baby. I would love to hear what you think of it!**

Chapter Twelve – The Aftermath

Theo's heart was pounding and he knew that if he were to look in the mirror right at this very moment he would be pale and sweaty and rumpled in an entirely unappealing way. However, there were no mirrors and there was no time to consider appearances because there was a chance, and a very high chance at that, that his life would be cut short very soon.

He had been uncertain about approaching Zabrina after the fog of her spell had lifted and the truth about who was ruling the wizarding world had come out. In the end, it had been she who had recruited him, finding him at the ministry on the day everything went to hell she had whispered those words that he had not heard since school.

"Salazar's Serpents."

He remembered the way he had jumped about a foot in the air as she lifted the concealment charms on that part of his memory, and he realised that he had actually been serving her all along; there really wasn't any choice at all.

Now he was rushing up the stairs of her castle, two at a time, unsure whether he was hoping to find her mangled body or dreading it. There was something charismatic about her, he was drawn to her inexplicably and knowing that she kept Draco as a luxury prisoner in her dungeon swayed him slightly to the latter. He could not see her die, there was hope for her yet, hope for the wizarding world to be run with the ideals that were, in his mind, the correct ones. If only she could loosen her grip slightly on the overall dominance, if only he didn't have to kneel before her like some lesser being.

No, Theo thought, he would not wish to see her destroyed, but he knew that if there was one chip in her perfectly manicured nails because he had let a threat into her home then he would have to pay. It was that thought that caused his ruffled demeanour but also the firm grip that he placed on his wand, he would not go down without a fight.

The room was destroyed, of that there was no question, however he thought that, structurally, the castle was sound. The damage was more aesthetic than anything else. This quick assessment flashed through his mind automatically when he entered the room, even as he eyed the bits of charred flesh that draped themselves over ruined furniture, he was calculating. The remains of the attacker were obvious and they did not concern him, what did cause his heart to leap into his mouth and his hands to begin to shake uncontrollably were the other remains. It took almost a full minute of pure fear before he realised, with a laugh, that it was her wretched slave. Poor Avery, Theo thought with another chuckle, guy never could catch a break.

After scanning the room to make sure he hadn't missed anything, Theo strode from the castle and apparated to Diagon Alley where he was sure he would very soon be needed.

* * *

"Hermione it worked!"

Neville was whooping with joy and bounding around the place as though he were an over-excited puppy. It was very hard for Hermione to keep a straight face but she managed to in the end and the room of celebrating miscreants soon quieted.

"Of course it worked, Neville." She sniffed, putting her nose in the air and looking down at those before her as though daring any of them to say differently.

"We might be restricted in our magical practices but _she_ cannot stop us from accessing muggle knowledge."

There was a ripple of laughter throughout headquarters at that, many of them were from wizarding families that would never have expected muggle weaponry to work as effectively as it did, they were still finding humour in that.

"Now, just because the bomb has been successful we do not as yet know the damage it has caused, if any. Therefore, we are going to need to send out a few parties to assess the situation. There will also be a team due back at any moment; they were assisting Tommy with the ministry infiltration so that team should be able to tell us-"

There was suddenly a loud bang and a shriek from the street outside, everyone jumped up and Hermione crept to the window, peering out between the cracks in the boards. What she saw made her blood run cold. Many of those that had been on the ministry mission were lying dead in the street, civilians were running away as fast as possible from the centre of Diagon alley and there, amongst the carnage, was the Lady of Darkness herself.

"Implement plan B! Evacuate! This is not a drill, I repeat, evacuation is in immediate effect!"

She called shrilly over the heads of those who were already rushing to escape headquarters. The resistance was made up mainly of those whose wand had been taken when they made any opposition to the regime, therefore any attack meant evacuation, they were unable to stand and fight. Those with wands were not stupid enough to attempt outright battle; they had learned the hard way that subterfuge and intelligence were far more effective weapons in this dark new world.

Suddenly Tommy was in front of her, looking worn and tired but with that glint of steely determination that both inspired Hermione and frightened her. She often had to stop and make herself remember that this man, the leader of the resistance, was their enemies twin, and she must never, ever let her guard down around him.

Despite Tommy being a Gryffindor and unable to even speak his sisters name without breaking something, it was clear that there was a dark ruthlessness in their leader that made Hermione unable to trust him completely. She knew that if it came down to it she would run, run away and not look back. At this point it was the only alternative.

* * *

Zabrina stood on the streets of Diagon Alley, the cobbles of which were once again, blood red.

"You pathetic fools!" She screeched, trying desperately to regain her sense of control but feeling it slipping, slipping away from her with ever increasing speed.

"You think that muggle weaponry could defeat me? You think that I would not retaliate? Once more, these streets are red with the blood of my enemies and it is nobody's fault but your own! Hermione Granger, do you really think you are on the right side when you sacrifice lives as though they are yours to play with?"

Hermione heard her words and felt the guilt well up within her, she knew that she would have to confront that, one day when all this was over. However, right now there was only the aching wound where the shapes of Harry and Ron had used to reside in her heart, nothing but the pressing need to avenge them, to avenge _him._ Ignoring Zabrina's words, Hermione continued to evacuate headquarters whilst the other witches' high pitched laugh echoed through the narrow streets and reminded them all of her far-reaching presence.

When Theo finally showed up with a straggly group of Death Eaters, Zabrina was beginning to regain a sense of purpose. She sighed to herself, eyeing the kneeling figures before her, each and every one willing to serve her to the death, if she required it. She supposed that she had better utilise this monster that she had created.

"My friends!"

She spoke only to her Death Eaters now, their faces looking up at her expectantly, for she did not require them to wear the deceiving masks of her grandfather's time.

"An attack has been made upon me but even worse, my home has been breached and my drawing room destroyed. Find those responsible and punish them for me. The ban on open combat with the resistance has been lifted but, as ever, no harm to my brother. Now go!"

She watched them leave, not having much hope for their success. She felt her point had already been made with the outright slaughter in the streets and she knew the rats had already scurried down into their holes. They would not emerge for some time, not after suffering such a loss. Theo remained hovering slightly as though showing willing to do her biding at a moment's notice but also suggesting that his presence might be more necessary at her side.

"What is it Theo?" She sighed, "You may speak plainly, I don't intend to kill anyone else today."

He smirked at her, emboldened by her statement, "Well you could just as easily kill me tomorrow, your Ladyship, so forgive me if I don't always take everything you say to heart."

She smiled at him, thinking, once again, how much she relied on Theo to be there for her. She sometimes thought, and the thought was a very unpleasant one, that should Theo ever betray her it would hurt even worse than the one she had already suffered, and could finish her entirely.

Shaking off such an unpleasant notion she motioned for Theo to continue.

"I have already instructed the elves to repair the damage to your drawing room; your slave is, however, no longer fit for this world unfortunately. I would like to suggest that we increase security to the Castle, perhaps conducting all your meetings in other places at random, so that your movements cannot be tracked. I'm afraid we have become entirely too predictable."

Here he gave her a dashing smirk that would have melted the heart of a lesser witch than she. Fortunately, Zabrina was not such a witch and just rolled her eyes in Theo's general direction.

"If we must, but Theo, I do not think this _resistance_ ," she sneered over the word, "Are going to be much more of a problem. I will not let myself fall for muggle assassination attempts again and we will increase the disappearances of their numbers. Perhaps we will even be lucky enough to get Hermione Granger. In the mean time, I must continue with the plans to expand into Europe. There is much to be done and I don't want to waste time of silly trifles such as these wandless rebels."

Theo nodded in agreement, all the while biting his tongue over many of the things he wished to say but knew that once he started he would never be able to stop and would go far beyond the bounds of the tentative respect he had managed to build up between himself and his mistress.

"As you wish your Ladyship. However, are you sure that Tommy Black must be allowed to remain? He is most definitely the leader and we have often had him within our grasp, only to allow him to slip away. I know he is your brother but-"

"Theo, I did say that I did not intend to kill anyone else today. If you were trying to encourage me to go back on my word you are heading in exactly the right direction."

She kept her tone light and friendly which was exactly the reason why Theo threw himself on the ground before her, bowing his head and trying to ignoring the way his immaculate robes trailed in the blood and grime of the street.

"Your Ladyship forgive me, I spoke out of turn."

"Oh Theo, you know how I value your contribution to my rule. I assure you it would be far more of a loss to me, were you to die, than it would be to you."

With that she apparated away, leaving Theo to wonder how many times he would allow himself to fall into the traps she made with her words. And knowing he would continue to do so as long as there was breath left in his body. Shaking his head, he moved to follow the rest of the Death Eaters on the fruitless mission, knowing all the while that he would die for her willingly, happily, despite the resistance that his mind liked to taunt him with.

He was hers.


	13. The Liberty

**Thank you, Lyra, for your reviews. I wanted to show how Zabrina uses people, even the ones she professes to care for, she just toys with them. I'm sorry you don't like the name, it means, amongst other things, Princess, which I thought was rather fitting!**

Chapter Thirteen – The Liberty

She didn't know why she was doing it. Time and time again she paused and made herself turn back to her room and yet over and over she spun in an awkward circle and continued down towards the dungeons. This was not like her, she never did anything out of character and yet here she was, giving into a whim, a fancy. This could only end badly, but she appeared to be letting it happen anyway.

The dungeon was cold but she knew his cell would be warmer, spelled as it was to make him comfortable and healthy. The door opened at her touch, the castle was entirely in tune with her, an extension of her own being. She paused on the threshold, looking around the small cell. Immediately she knew why she had never ventured down here, more so than the obvious reason of not wanting to lay eyes on him. It was due to the fact that Draco, in a cage, was unnatural and wrong. This knowledge plagued her with guilt, guilt that she resented because he had _betrayed_ her! Yet she found that forgiveness had been creeping over her for a long time, slow at first, but since Ginny Weasley's death it had been pouring into her in spades.

He was asleep on the small bed, his hand trailing over a book that lay on the floor, she recognised it immediately and smiled slightly when she realised what he had been reading. Perhaps the Draco she had imprisoned was not the Draco that lay here now.

"Legilimens," she whispered the word softly and slipped into his mind seamlessly, merging herself with his dreams so that he would not sense the intrusion. Images were coming thick and fast, there was an air of stress and worry ever present and it made the hairs on the back of her neck prickle. Draco was not sleeping soundly, but it did not feel out of the ordinary for him, his mind accepted it, the same way it was accepting her presence.

She tried to focus on his dreams more closely but all she could see was a face over and over again, blurred around the edges as though from a memory that was fading. It took some time before she realised it was her face and with a gasp, she withdrew gently from his mind.

She suddenly wanted to be away from there, away from this man who had been a boy last time she saw him. The boy she had loved with a heart so entirely devoted to him that she had barely understood it or recognised it herself. She knew this now, her heart had been shattered by his betrayal but in a way she was now beginning to see much clearer than before when her rage had blinded her. He had been selfish, back then, and unaware of the power of the feelings that they felt for each other because she had never allowed him to see. He had been too easily led by others, too restricted by the space she had placed between them to ever see what he had meant to her. She thought, suddenly having an epiphany, that he may have believed that his betrayal would bring them closer, lower her down to his own level and therefore, make her more attainable.

Shaking her head Zabrina turned away, there was a pain in her chest that she recognised as several years of pent up emotion, breaking the surface and threatening to overwhelm her.

"Grandfather." She whispered, "I have been a fool, a fool just like you."

It was true; her country was tearing itself apart with fear and pain. She had prided herself on being above her Grandfather, and now she was just like him, a tyrant, with a regime built on terror.

"Let them love _and_ fear me," she whispered into the dark as she slowly left the dungeon, ensuring the door remained open after her departure.

Draco awoke because something was different. He knew it instinctively, the same way that he could sense if someone had a wand to his back. Flicking his eyes open, he tried to gauge the situation without raising any suspicion, finding no visible threat he decided it was safe to sit up.

The door was wide open.

He couldn't understand it; it had to be some kind of trap. On the other hand, perhaps it was finally his time to die. Moving across the floor slowly he paused on the threshold between prisoner and person, waiting for the imagined blow to fall. It was then that he caught it, very faint but strong to one who had been denied its presence in his life for so long. It was her scent.

Feeling his heart start to beat in a way he was sure it had not done for a very long time, Draco began to ascend the steps into the main body of the castle. He was going to settle this, finally, once and for all, it was just a shame that he wasn't sure whether that meant he was going to kill her, or kiss her.

* * *

"I- I don't think I can do this anymore Tommy."

Hermione's voice came out as a whisper but it sounded loud in the relative silence of the stark basement room that they were huddled in. It was the moment Tommy had been waiting for, he had seen it coming, the fear in her eyes when she looked at him after he had given a particularly harsh order. The resignation and thirst for revenge that had engulfed her when Harry and Ron had disappeared was not enough to keep her going, it would wear off one day, and it appeared that day had come.

"Hermione, you know you're free to go whenever you want, but we need you. After all, who else is going to show us how to work these weapons?"

He waved a shotgun around and several people who had already seen its power demonstrated ducked with fear. Others just stared, vaguely in the direction of their leaders, numb to almost everything in this strange, new world.

Hermione begun to shake her head, clearly about to mention the training that she had been doing with many of them over the last few weeks. Tommy frowned.

"If you leave us we will be defenceless, if you leave us, we will see it as an act of betrayal, an act of desertion. You wouldn't want to be fighting both sides would you Hermione?"

Tommy's voice was even and business like, but there was an edge to it that Hermione knew meant trouble, it meant the rage and anger that was always bubbling, just under Tommy's surface, was about to burst forth.

"No- no Tommy I- I wasn't thinking. I want to help, of course I do but it's just..."

She broke off, unsure how much leeway she had and her sentence hung in the air, unfinished because Tommy was just looking at her, expressionless, tapping the barrel of the shotgun against his knee in an absentminded manner that was more threatening than harsh words or raised wands could ever be.

It was Neville who spoke.

"But Hermione," he cried, "what about Ginny? And Harry and Ron? You can't let evil win! You can't let this side down! We need you!"

His words struck a chord somewhere inside her, she knew then what to do.

"You're right." She said, standing up straight with her head held proudly. Thoughts of Harry and Ron were clear and true in her mind as she squared her shoulders. "You're right Neville." She said, louder now, looking directly into Tommy's eyes. "I cannot let evil win."

And with that she strode to the entrance and left the building, all the while bracing herself for a shot that never came.

* * *

Since the assassination attempt Theo had been on red alert, ensuring that there were Death Eaters surrounding the Black Castle constantly, never letting anyone enter. It was this confidence in his exterior guard that made him complacent when it came to the interior, for who could breach these walls unnoticed? Therefore, when Draco moved through the castle in the early morning light, it was not until he reached the third floor that he met any opposition, and by then he had already found a spare wand and a knife which was sheathed in his belt. Theo awoke from where he had been slumped in a chair outside his mistress's bedroom to find a wand at his throat and a very familiar head of blonde hair at the other end.

"Draco," he grunted, his voice hoarse with sleep. "I wondered when you would surface."

"Theo," Draco nodded in greeting. "I hope you can understand, needs must."

Then, with a flick of his wand, he cast a silent stunner and watched with satisfaction as his old school friend slumped in his chair, knocking his head sharply on the edge in the process. They may have been friends once, but Draco noted that his _friend_ was wearing fine robes and was sitting outside the room of _his_ \- well it was safe to say that Theo was not his friend anymore, regardless of the house they had shared. Or whom they both pledged loyalty too.

Steeling himself for action, Draco slowly turned the handle to the room and, holding his breath, stepped inside. It was half light in there, the sun was attempting to peer in through the windows but the curtains were heavy and drawn so the light was very dim, making it hard to focus for a second. In that moment there was a flash of movement in one corner and Draco spun, wand raised, ready to fight.

"Draco?"

Her voice was quiet and controlled, just like he remembered it, and yet the hint of uncertainty he detected was unfamiliar. Blinking rapidly he tried to focus and began to make out her outline, standing in the corner of the room. She was breathtakingly beautiful. Looking at her became almost painful; such was her power over him. He had imagined her beauty during his time as a prisoner but that was a puny imitation of the reality. The reality made him want to throw down his wand and run to her, begging to be loved again, begging to have her favour him. He now saw how she had taken over almost their entire world; he felt as though one word from her would incite him to do anything she bade, just for the want of her gaze upon him so that he may savour her beauty for a few seconds more.

All of this pounded through his mind and assaulted his senses in only a few seconds. She just stood there, watching him as he was watching her, only he was sure that his expression could not look so hungry, so filled with need as hers did. Whatever spell they had both been under was broken in a moment because she twisted away into apparition. Before he had a chance to feel disappointment at the loss of her presence, he sensed movement behind him. In a second his wand was taken from him before he could even turn and her voice, very close to his ear whispered,

"not today, Draco."

Instantly he knew she was gone and he slumped slightly, at a loss for what had just happened. Despite thinking he had gained the upper hand, he had lost the advantage the moment he entered the room.

"Aarghhh!"

Zabrina screamed when she whirled into existence. She had apparated to the dungeon thinking it unlikely that Draco would venture down their again. Throwing up silencing spells so she could carry out her breakdown in private, Zabrina let herself sag to the floor. Her head on her knees she took deep breaths, trying to steady the whirls of emotion that were engulfing her. She had never thought that such a rush of feeling could be possible; clearly, her maturing age and sense of self were playing a part in the evolution of her emotions because she had never felt like this before.

After all, it was just Draco, she had known him for years, been friends with him for most of it, and yet he had stormed into her room at the crack of dawn and she had run away. He could have left, he could have escaped out into the world and taken his chance at freedom but instead he had come to her. True, she had noted the raised wand and the crude knife and had made sure to leave before he decided to use either of them in a way both of them would regret, but he was still _here_. She thought that that must count for something; she just wasn't sure what that something was.

Meanwhile Theo had struggled awake, feeling as though he was surfacing from a heavy, drug induced slumber. When his faculties caught up with him he jumped to his feet, swaying slightly he dashed into his mistress's room. Draco was slumped, just inside the door and for a wild moment, Theo thought he had been killed.

"I failed her Theo, I failed her over and over again and now I had a chance and still managed to fail her one more time. What on earth is wrong with me?"

The man before Theo raised his head and looked at him with such despair that Theo almost felt sorry for him. The feeling only overtook him for a moment, however, before he felt his true feelings of resentment and bitterness return.

"You betrayed her Draco! That doesn't just go away because you spent a few years locked up in a comfortable cell. You are her worst enemy, not only because of that but because you made her change her plans, her very self! You _broke her_!"

Theo was incensed now, so many of the unspoken words that had remained pent up for so long were about to burst forth and he knew there was no way of stopping them.

"She could have been great, she is a descendent of Salazar Slytherin, the Dark Lords' own granddaughter and you reduced her to some rage fuelled, crazy, bloodthirsty-"

"ENOUGH!"

Draco had jumped up from where he had been slumped, knife in his hand.

"I'm warning you Theo; say one more word against her..."

"And you'll do what?"

Theo laughed manically, completely out of control now.

"What can _you_ do? You don't even have a wand. You don't love her Draco, otherwise you wouldn't have done what you did, and you wouldn't have chased her away now. I think she probably would prefer me over you at this point-"

"NO!"

Draco jumped forward, crossing the distance between them in a matter of seconds. Instinctively Theo shied away from the knife whilst simultaneously raising his wand but even in that instant he felt a wall of power in front of him. His wide eyes met Draco's whose similarly shocked eyes were gazing at the palm of his hands in surprise. After a moment, he seemed to gather himself.

"Well Theo, it seems that all that studying I've been doing in my cell over the past few years has paid off. Wandless, non verbal shield spell, maybe I am worthy of her after all..."

Theo took advantage of Draco's momentary lapse into thought and began to attack the shield with force, locked in a duel of sorts both of them were blind to anything else in the room. Which was why, when Zabrina apparated behind them, she found for the first time that her presence in a room went entirely unnoticed. Perhaps if it had been anyone else she would not have minded, but being as it was, the two upon whom she had bestowed so much favour, she was rather enraged.

Draco's hand with the knife was inching ever closer to the edge of Theo's robes, and from there into his flesh. Meanwhile Theo was letting out what appeared to be years of frustration by punctuating every spell with a shout about something he did not agree with. His words were becoming garbled with rage, however, so most of it just sounded like,

"Mudbloods-Crucio-my family-argh-better-Avada-argh!"

Crossing her arms over her chest Zabrina eyed the two with sudden amusement, her anger slowly slipping away much faster than she had thought herself capable of. After the hell they had all been through, herself most of all she noted, it seemed rather freeing to have it culminate in this childish display.

"Have you quite finished or do I have to come in there and pull you both apart? I'm sure you can re-attach the limbs once I'm finished. Well, I mean, I presume so..."

The moment she had begun to speak the two had jumped away from each other. Weapons lowered and breathing heavily, they both resembled little more than rumpled boys, caught in the act of some misadventure. Theo was first to speak, he dropped to his knees before her.

"Your Ladyship I apologise, I was out of control. I know you must punish me but if I could beg your indulgence, please make it quick?"

He looked up at her through long dark lashes and Zabrina just sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Get lost Theo before you get your wish. I want you to summon the death eaters to an emergency council, and put out a warrant for my brother's arrest. Tell any of the wandless that his capture will result in the return of their magic and a full pardon. That should get a few of his friends to betray him."

Theo looked at her for a moment opened mouthed.

"Do I have to repeat myself?" She growled, "I said arrested not killed, it's never too late to change the world I suppose. Now go!"

She shouted the last at him and he jumped in fright before shooting her a relieved smirk and dashing from the room. One job done, Zabrina steeled herself to turn and look at the only other person in the room, one whom she had avoided laying eyes upon for a very long time.

"Draco," she whispered. "I- I think it's time we talked."


	14. The Vengeance

Chapter Fourteen - The Vengeance

So much had come between them. So much had happened to pull them, irrevocably apart, and yet it all paled into insignificance when they were finally together once again.

"Draco I-"

She tried again but her voice just softened to a small whisper, betraying her uncertainty. Were there really words that could breach this distance between them? It didn't matter because at the same time Draco spoke.

"Zabrina I-"

He stopped short, smiling ruefully at her as they both bumbled about like awkward teenagers. Neither one having any real experience of laying themselves bare.

It was his smile that did it. So much pain, so much betrayal, and yet he could still smile at her and light her up inside. Zabrina realised now, at that very moment that it didn't matter what had happened or who she had become, all that mattered was that she had loved Draco, passionately, ever since she was a young girl. Now that they stood before each other, finally ready to confess to those feelings it seemed impossible that they could still be dancing around the subject.

Although, Zabrina supposed, it had always been she who put the barriers on their relationship. Yes, Draco had broken them down once or twice but now, now she was basically the queen of wizarding Britain and she was even less approachable than before. Of course, there was also the tiny problem of his betrayal and her subsequent slaughter of hundreds but really, what was that in the grand scheme of things?

All this passed through her mind in a flash as she looked at him. She wasn't sure how he felt, she wasn't sure if he would prefer to talk, or to fight, but she knew that right now her being unsure wasn't going to last very long, and she would have to act. Taking a step forward she saw him freeze and glance at her wand hand. Inwardly she sighed; she had brought this upon herself, the fear. She was the Lady of Darkness after all.

Suddenly inspiration came to her as she remembered Draco's dream from long ago. Raising her wand and pretending to ignore his flinch, she threw the stick of cherry wood to the ground. Making sure it landed on the rug of course, it was her wand after all.

The sound of Draco's sharp inhale of breath was all she heard before suddenly he was in front of her, closer than anyone had been in such a long time.

"Are you sure?" He whispered hoarsely, "Are you being Zabrina right now? I'm not going to get decapitated in a moment or whatever it is you do?"

She couldn't tell if he was joking or not but she found it funny anyway. Letting out a small laugh she allowed herself to relax, for possibly the first time in her life. Gazing up at his beautiful features, hardened now by solitude and pain but no less perfect because of it, she smiled.

"Draco, to tell you the truth I don't think I'm even being Zabrina right now. I think- I think I'm just, yours."

With that utterance there was a tiny moment of delay, less than a second of clarity as they both pushed aside their pain and focused on the moment. Realising what was about to happen, how so much had let to this; it was almost too big a step to take, too large a gulf to breach, but they did it. With a growl Draco grabbed her, seemingly rough at first but really just strong and sure of what he wanted, what he was claiming after so long.

"You are mine, right here, right now. Nothing else matters except this moment. Agreed?"

He whispered this into her ear, his breath hot on her skin and it was all she could do to nod and breathe out a yes before his lips where upon her, his mouth hot and powerful as he claimed every inch of her for his own.

Making love to Draco was like nothing Zabrina had ever experienced before. She had never thought about such things, being too young the last time she and Draco had been together and too shut off from emotion in the time that had intervened. The first moment she stood before him, unclothed, vulnerable, she had wondered if she was doing the right thing. It was only when he had pushed her, his solid form still fully clothed, onto the bed and taken control of her body, that she had realised there was so much more to life than she had ever known.

Draco as a lover was hard and firm and very, very clear about what he wanted from her, which was absolutely nothing. It was entirely obvious that he was the one in charge in this instance, and it was because of this need for control that their relationship had never progressed further. She realised this now as she screamed out his name upon climax, seeing nothing but stars and feeling more than she had ever felt before. To be with Draco, like this, could never have been achieved if she did not lay aside her mantle of darkness and be nothing more than a woman for him. To relinquish all to a man so that he may take over your body and still trust him enough to know that he would not use it for ill. It did not feel belittling, nor disrespectful as she had feared, instead she realised that this was true worship.

The lovers continued to bask in each other's glory. Draco finally understanding what had been missing for so long, what had led him to believe that betrayal would serve him better than adoration. He knew now that it was this equality that he had needed from her, he had needed to know that, on a basic level, they belonged to one another, and that she could leave everything else behind to be with him in this way.

* * *

"Draco no!" Zabrina giggled, she actually giggled as she swatted Draco's hand away from where it had been inching up her thigh.

"I have to get dressed. Country to run, people to rule, resistance to slaughter, that sort of thing." She smiled at him, laughter dancing in her eyes, lighting her up and making her appear soft and welcoming. A feeling entirely contradicted by her casual, yet utterly ruthless, words. The light died in her eyes as she watched Draco's face, a moment ago so mischievous as his smirking mouth had followed his hand, trailing kisses up her leg. His features had hardened, his eyes hooded and in a brief moment, he had straightened up and turned away, a former prisoner once more.

"I accept you for who you are, Zabrina, for what I have made you, but I do not wish hear you joke about it. Perhaps we went about this the wrong way, perhaps we should have talked first, got everything out into the open. I have secrets you know, things I should tell-"

"Shh, Draco, I don't want to talk. I don't want to delve into the reasons behind what you did, or what I did, or what has come before. I only want to move forward. Can we not just do that? Please."

She did not sound as though she was begging, her voice, as was her manner, was cool and calm, regal in its command of the situation. Yet Draco noted that plea, and he heard the meaning behind the words. The only way she could move past this was to let it go, to forget about it, Draco wanted that for her, for them, he was sure of it.

"I understand," he sighed heavily. "I will help you with whatever you need Zabrina, I am at your service once more."

"Thank you Draco."

She was pleased, he could tell, and was transforming before his eyes from lover to queen. He wondered how easy it would be for him to reverse that process.

"I will need you to work with Theo, no more fighting, yes?"

"Agreed, there will be no more from my side at least. What else?"

"Unfortunately Draco there will be very little else. I can't have any of the other Death Eaters knowing I released you, seeing my weakness. They must follow me blindly and without question, otherwise how am I to put this world to rights?"

With a smile and a hand, briefly alighting on his shoulder, she swept from the room. It was only afterwards that he realised he was, to all intents and purposes, still trapped.

The dungeon walls replaced by fine silk chains.

* * *

Theo had failed for the first time, Tommy Black had been impossible to trace. In fact much of the resistance had simply vanished into thin air, those that they had been able to capture had been weak and pointless, with very little to tell and even less to give. Theo wondered what repercussions his failure would bring, and he shook with fear.

"Your ladyship, I beg you-"

"Enough, Theo, I accept your failure and your apology. I did not think this task would be easy. Now, we must move onto more pressing business, such as conquering the rest of Europe."

"But, your Ladyship, I thought- I thought you had changed your plans, you said-"

"Theo enough! I have never before heard you be so inarticulate! We will continue as planned, I have come too far to simply retreat. Ensure that when Draco is present, however, you disguise our true intent. Talk in code if you must but I do not wish him to know."

Bowing before her until her cloak had swished out of sight, Theo thought fast. This was not good, and he was caught right in the middle of it all. One way or another someone was going to die soon, and he decided in that moment that it would bloody well not be him.

"You had your chance." He murmured to himself. "Now it's my turn."

Despite her grand schemes, Zabrina found herself more and more frequently delegating her work to Theo and spending time locked in her room with Draco. It was as though the outside world did not matter, they were in a bubble, a place without anyone else where being together was all that mattered. She refused to address anything that had passed, or even what was going on in the outside world, not that Draco brought it up often. She ignored anything that got in her way and right now what she wanted was Draco, all to herself, all other things could be pushed aside. It was as though she were plugging one small hole in the dam and ignoring the huge cracks that ran right through it.

Soon the dam would break, and the flood would come.


	15. The Realisation

**Oooh, sorry it has been so long! Unfortunately it won't get much better as this is the last chapter that I have fully written. Fortunately, the rest is all planned out though, I just need a bottle of wine and some time to myself to actually write it!**

Chapter 15 – The Realisation

Tommy Black stood at the helm of his empire, a captain on a ship of glory bound for uncharted waters and uncertain fates. His army spread out before him, a motley crew it could be said, nevertheless they were all he had; and he knew just how to use them.

Often given to grandiose ideas and fantasies, Tommy did not for one moment contemplate how ridiculous he sounded, commanding a bunch of ragtag legionaries who were little more than school children. In his mind they were an army, he saw glory where there was only pain and hardship, he saw victory where there was mostly only failure. However, it was this persevering nature that would, ultimately swing events in Tommy's favour.

The resistance had suffered many loses both from death and desertion, adults had chosen to go into hiding rather than to continue on this long and bloody march towards the end. However, there were many from Hogwarts who still championed Potter, who still remembered the days when Gryffindor had been the greatest house and who saw Tommy as their beacon of shining light in the darkness. The only one who could pull them from the shadows into a brave new world.

Currently residing in a muggle war bunker of old, Tommy and his army were reasonably well provided for, and thus were gaining in strength. They felt safe behind their muggle frontage; they had food brought to them by imperiused muggles, the imperius curse being widely used in these dark times as a necessary means to an end. Tommy had corrupted them all with his thirst for vengeance and his lust for victory. His words were like honey as they washed over his followers, half starved of magic as they were in the beginning, luring them to him with promises of happy days and a future full of light and hope. In Tommy's mind, he saw no future, he was certain his victory would also herald his death and he was comfortable with this. Deep within himself he knew his actions had taken him further than he had first intended, and he refrained from looking in the mirror lest he should see more of his sister looking back at him than he would like.

In the deep safety of their bunker the resistance plotted and schemed, their enigmatic captain egging them on towards uncertainty and peril, wrapped up in a mantle of hope and glory and all the other lies we tell ourselves when we are at war.

* * *

Meanwhile Theo was also waging his own war, albeit a soft and silent one which crept about on gentle paws as though a cat, it's sharp and deadly claws sheathed until the prey is distracted and then they pounce.

He had many of the Death Eaters on his side; it was not hard, they had tired of the tyranny and the anguish. They longed for a steady and constant rule without the fear of gutting or beheading festering throughout their ranks like an ugly wound.

"She's crazy," Theo whispered in one ear, late at night in a dark corner of the Hogs Head.

"She wants to rule the world but have you seen her lately? She has gone soft, weakened by her femininity. We don't need her any more, we could practically rule ourselves! Think about it..."

He trailed off, his companion's eyes drooping with the weight of many Firewhiskeys, but Theo knew his words would sink in. Perhaps just a whisper, a stir of memory, enough to sow the seeds of doubt and suspicion, enough to still a hand or stall a shout when the time came.

Draco flexed his fingers, anger puckering his handsome features as he growled in frustration. His wandless magic had been failing him for some time but now it had become apparent that it was completely gone. He thought back to the interaction he had had with Theo, had he really been able to perform such feats? Perhaps it was a side effect of his imprisonment, his magic had needed to manifest itself in some way, with or without a wand he was a Malfoy after all and there was very little that could keep a Malfoy down for long. It was not without good reason that his family always came out on top, he reasoned, trying to calm the raging anger he could feel, burning him up from the inside and bubbling, just under the surface. Zabrina had stepped out of their rooms for a few hours to visit her mother and Draco had taken the opportunity to work on the things he had learned long ago in his dungeon. Had it really only been four months since he had broken free? It felt like a lifetime, and of course, he had not broken free of anywhere. Zabrina had released him, and then in one fell swoop imprisoned him again in a way that he could only thank her for.

Making a sudden fist Draco slammed his hand into a nearby bookcase, letting out a howl of frustration and pain. It was only in these rare moments when he was alone that he realised how incredibly far he had fallen, whilst simultaneously rising incredibly high. What he had now with Zabrina was perfection, she was his in a way that he had never before dreamed she could possibly be and yet- and yet it was not enough. Dropping to the floor and running his hands through his hair in frustration, cringing as he felt his wounded knuckles protest, Draco laughed to himself quietly.

"No" he muttered under his breath, "She _is_ enough. She _has_ to be!"

How could he possibly be doubting what he had with her after all they had been through? He needed to avoid thoughts like that at all costs, for a start Zabrina would be able to sense doubt a mile off, her skills in legilimency were legendary. It would be best, he decided, straightening up and reaching for his wand to heal his hand, it would be best to forget moments like these ever happened. Best to focus on the good in his life and push all the doubt to one side.

"For down this path lies madness." He muttered to himself once again, without even realising the irony of his words.

* * *

Zabrina gazed around her with satisfaction, surveying the damage that her wrath had dealt. It had been another demonstration for her mother only this time she had got slightly more carried away than usual and her mother had been carted off to St. Mungos by a team of highly relieved Death Eaters. The rest of her followers cowered at her feet, silently wishing that they had been one of the lucky ones chosen to drag the old woman away. There were none who had escaped without injury but the muggles in the town square were by far the worst off. This time Zabrina had branched out from Diagon Alley and taken her destruction out into the muggle world, a decision that was making her Death Eaters mutter under their breath.

Theo surveyed the damage from under lidded eyes as he knelt next to his fellows in the dirt. She had gone too far too many times, people were sick of the endless uncertainty. They had fought for the life they desired but they were not being given the chance to truly live it. The threat of her displeasure hung like an axe above all their heads, one wrong move and it would drop and then that fought for life wouldn't even be worth living.

Zabrina had long since given up on testing her follower's loyalty through their minds, legilamency was hard and she trusted her followers, they were worshiping at her feet after all. That was why she had no idea of the sense of discontent that rumbled through the ranks, how the planned move to conquer more territories had been met with outright defiance. She had stopped paying attention, thinking herself secure, thinking her work accomplished when in reality a job like that was never done. They had to both love _and_ fear her, and that balance could only be maintained if they were allowed to love her. With all her heart taken up by Draco there was very little left to spare and her followers could sense this, Zabrina, however, could not and smiled down at them with that cruel look she had perfected over time.

"My friends, as you can see we have had another successful day only due to my involvement. However, I am a little disappointed in your participation. Where is my brother? Where are the resistance?" She sighed and shook her head.

"Disappointing me can earn you a death sentence, you all know better than that. Theo, anything to report?"

In the dirt, Theo jumped a little and tried to hide it though he didn't think he was fooling anybody. He knew they wouldn't stand a chance against her, no matter how many of them there were. Trying to school his thoughts and not be a target of her displeasure Theo looked up at her through long lashes.

"Your ladyship-" He began but got no further because all of a sudden Zabrina went pale, paler than usual and seemed to lose her footing a little.

Theo jumped up, reaching out as though to steady her but then pulling back a little when he thought better of it.

"Are you alright your Ladyship?" he asked, trying not to sound overly patronising and probably failing miserable. Zabrina did not seem to care however; she had a strange look on her face.

"Yes fine, thank you" she hissed distractedly. "You are all dismissed. Go, Now!" The Death Eaters didn't need telling twice and soon Theo was the only one left.

"You too Theo, get out of my sight!" She looked awful now and Theo knew that this was not a moment to push her. Quickly he apparated away with a loud crack.

Zabrina felt relief wash over her as soon as she was alone, she did not have long however before she began to vomit up what felt like all her insides, the sight of it mingling with the blood on the street in front of her just made her retch all the more. When it was over she felt a little better, well enough to cast the spell that she had looked up the other day, though had as yet not had the courage to try it.

The plus sign bloomed out from the end of her wand and flashed, ominously in front of her. Its meaning was clear, a positive result, and yet she didn't think she had ever seen anything less positive in her life.

From the dark alley-way that he had apparated too, Theo watched his queen in her moment of weakness. Still he watched when she cast the pregnancy charm and, after she had apparated away, he watched the empty street where she had stood. He had learned something of great significance but now, now he would have a decision to make, one which could affect everything.

At home, Zabrina stood and looked in the mirror. She didn't feel any different, apart from the sickness which had, for the moment passed, and yet her entire world had changed. She had tried to ignore the voice inside her head that told her something was not right, she had tried to push aside the niggling suspicion that three massacres in as many days was not normal, even for her.

"Typical" she muttered to herself, "Other women leave their wand in the cauldron or get mood swings but not me!"

Walking into their rooms, she was surprised to see Draco slumped at the food of their bed, his head in his hands. He looked up when she knelt in front of him but other than that, there was no light in his eyes, no distracting smirk. How long has Draco not been himself, she wondered. How could I have missed that?

"Draco?" She whispered, hesitantly running a hand through his hair, imitating his usual gesture. His head fell back as he relaxed into her touch but he had closed his eyes, hiding himself from her.

"Draco," she tried to tease, "When did you become such a tortured soul, hmm?"

She smiled at him, tugging his hair till he opened his eyes. The look in them was different now though, almost feral, and slowly, oh so slowly, that smirk of his began to creep onto his lips. Suddenly he was upon her, pushing her to the floor and pinning her hands on either side of her head with his own. She gasped, never prepared for how quick his moods could change, never prepared for how arousing the pressure of his muscular form could be when he had her pinned like this, completely at his mercy.

Draco leaned down to kiss her, this woman that he had spent all day agonising over. When he was alone he had too much time to think, he reasoned. She was his, no other had claim to her in this way, it was everything he had ever wanted and when he was with her it felt like he was on top of the world. Only when she left him did he feel bereft. Perhaps that was what love was supposed to feel like, he thought, as he ground his hips into her own, smirking as she cried out against his lips.

Pushing himself off her only for a moment Draco waved his wand and watched with satisfaction as her naked form was revealed to him. He never got tired of this; the carnal lust that ran through his veins was a heady, intoxicating sensation. Having her naked and vulnerable beneath him, having completely succumbed to his dominance was all it took for him to be ready and straining for her. Unable to hold back any longer he unbuckled his belt and pushed himself into her, relishing her cry turn from one of pain to one of ecstasy with only a few thrusts. Yes, this was what he needed, it had been a few days, she had been busy and they hadn't had much time together. He would make sure they rectified that, she wasn't going to leave this room for a while, that was for certain.

"I love you so bloody much," he whispered into her ear, biting her neck and feeling her shudder beneath him.

"Come for me Zabrina. Now!"

His commanding tone sent her over the edge as it always did and she screamed out his name, relishing the feel of it on her lips. Soon after she felt him begin to reach his own finish and she reached out, grabbing his face with her hands, making eye contact as she felt him pound into her one last time.

Draco gazed into her eyes, feeling everything in that moment, how wonderfully, perfectly good she was, wrapped around him. How much he enjoyed having her scream his name, always him because she would always be his. Her lips were moving and he tried to focus on what she was saying.

"Draco, I'm carrying your child."

As her words sunk in he realised that he had never really been the one in control at all.


	16. The Reckoning

**Oh my goodness! What is this? Another chapter? But you have been gone so long we thought you fell down a rabbit hole into wonderland! Well not quite, it just took a while for me to find that moment to have a glass of wine or six and write this chapter! We are nearing the conclusion folks, get your tissues out :D**

Chapter 16 – The Reckoning

Neville had long since given up wondering why he was still alive when so many others were gone. He knew only two thoughts these days, survival and vengeance, and the two often went hand in hand. Tommy was his champion; he would walk into the fires of hell for that boy- well, man now he supposed. They had all grown up at some point, the years had been hard and long and this showed on the faces of the others. Neville supposed his own face must be the same. He never thought of Harry or Ron specifically, only in the most abstract way. He knew he was fighting for people, for those who had been lost, but he didn't focus on them individually. The only one he saw was Tommy, their captain, the one who kept them all going when hope had seemed entirely lost. Tommy was a beacon and Neville, though he had once been somewhat of a champion himself, was now little more than one of many weapons in Tommy's arsenal.

It had been months since the Lady of Darkness had last been sighted. However, her Death Eaters were out in force as usual, their numbers only seeming to grow. Tommy had said that Zabrina must be weak if she were not making herself visible, and Neville believed him. Tensions were high in the bunker that housed the resistance, the end was nigh, they could all feel it, a subtle shifting in their favour. A sudden burst of energy that consumed them all, urged on by their captain who had taken their free will and handed it back to them with his stamp of approval, none of them were free and none of them knew it. The resistance were starved both physically and mentally, starved of joy, light, and happiness, moulded into a ravenous spear, hungry for vengeance and aimed by Tommy directly at his sister's castle. Neville was the head of the spear, the sharpest point, and he rejoiced in the knowledge that he would be the first to fulfil his captain's glorious purpose. Of course, it didn't work out quite that way at all.

In her castle of darkness, Zabrina had just undergone the most horrific experience of her entire life. She had given birth. Completely unaware of any chaos in her realm, and not having been notified of any potential uprisings by a quietly rebellious Theo, Zabrina had taken some time off. She and Draco had been locked away in a bubble of happiness that she was unaware she could even experience, let alone participate in. As her stomach had swelled, so had her range of emotion until she found herself shedding a tear over a house elf knitted pair of baby booties. Of course she had had the elf responsible beheaded but for some strange reason the sight of its sad little head mounted on her wall did little to satisfy her, in fact it just made her feel more _feelings_! Draco had noticed her frustration and only laughed at her, he did that a lot these days, a smile was never far from his face whenever he caught sight of her. At first Zabrina had been reticent about allowing so much normality and sentiment into their relationship, but soon she had given in. What was the point of ruling the world if she couldn't take some time off to be with the one she loved, it wasn't as if anyone could see them together. No one was allowed into the castle on pain of death, if any business needed to be conducted she had Theo deal with it, delegation was the task of a successful ruler after all, she assured herself.

"She most definitely has my hair!" Draco announced with some satisfaction, stroking a finger over his daughters silky blonde head.

"But my eyes!" Zabrina countered, smiling with satisfaction at the pair from her place in the centre of their bed.

Draco lounged in a chair, their baby daughter sleeping in his arms, neither new parent had been content to set the infant down anywhere so they took it in turns to hold her as she slept, ate or just generally existed.

"Yes, your beautiful eyes." Draco murmured, smiling at her and Zabrina leaned back into her pillows, satisfied.

"Can you cast another pain relief charm? I think the first one's wearing off." She sighed.

"Really Zabrina, you think you would be able to cast one yourself by now, this is what comes of not doing your Newts..." Draco smirked at her as Zabrina rolled her eyes.

"I can get my wand from the bathroom if you wish, but it might be you who needs the pain relief charm if I have to move."

"You can't threaten a man with a baby!" Draco exclaimed, "And anyway, if you lean a little to the right you can see your wand and you can just summon it with a flick of your wrist, your threats don't work on me any more woman, you birthed my offspring!"

Zabrina struggled to control the slight twitching of mirth in the corners of her mouth.

"I have just gone through the worst pain imaginable, don't look at me like that I have doled out enough cruciatus' I'm sure I know, I don't have the energy for your teasing!"

Draco smirked at her and then looked down at their sleeping daughter as she squirmed in her sleep, it was almost impossible that he could feel so much love and protection for another person, and such a tiny one at that!

A brief flicker of an underlying uncertainty marred the otherwise perfect moment as he glanced at Zabrina, she was everything to him he was sure of it. Yet it could not be denied that this tiny creature in his arms was the most precious thing in the world to him, and every instinct that came with being a father kept alerting him to all the dangers that faced her. It would be a difficult journey for his beautiful girl, because not only was she the product of war and pain but also because some of Draco's well honed instincts told him that the danger was right in front of him. Deep down he could sense that, whether directly or indirectly, the main threat to his baby girl was her mother.

Unaware of the turmoil within her other half, Zabrina found herself wholly satisfied with life. The pregnancy had worked out better than she could have hoped, Draco had been enthusiastic and attentive and the baby would give him something to do whilst she was out terrorising the world. It was all rather perfect, she thought smugly. She wondered idly where Theo was, he hadn't been by in a while, she tried to think how long it had been since she had seen him, was it yesterday? No, the day before surely. Her brain was a fuzz of emotions and feelings and she couldn't really concentrate on Theo for long, not when a perfect little replica of Draco in female form was stirring in his arms, wanting to be fed.

It was when Zabrina put the baby to her breast that she felt it, the instinctual feeling that something was not right that had kept her alert and always one step ahead over the years. She glanced at Draco, he hadn't sensed it yet but he would, he was just as powerful as she in many ways.

"Draco, here take the baby again, I just need to-" Her words were cut off just as she passed the squirming child over by a loud bang as the doors to her bedroom flew open.

Finally, after such a long time she was staring into eyes that were exactly the same as hers. Eyes that held hers transfixed with such depths of rage and hatred that she realised her twin had been fuelling himself with for so long that he was almost entirely consumed by it. No, she reasoned, they were not so different after all, but Tommy had been repressed, his rage given no release, and from this he had burned with a hate that, she could tell, far outstripped her own.

All this passed in a moment as the twins eyed each other, face to face once more. For a brief second it seemed as though there might be a chance, for the baby let out a hungry wail and startled Tommy slightly, his eyes darting over to where Draco cradled her. Zabrina took this as her moment and went to move towards him but suddenly she realised she could not move at all, she had been immobilised. Fear, hot and acrid as smoke coursed through her, she could taste it on her tongue, she was all to aware now of just how much she had to lose.

"So, _Zabrina_." Tommy spat her name into the air as though it were filth on his tongue. "You appear to have reproduced. I don't think we can have that can we, knowing how our bloodline is tainted with evil. Who knows what kind of monster one such as you would breed."

He was ravenous with a hunger to strike, to end this once and for all, to win at all costs. But he had to admit, the baby had thrown him, perhaps she was capable of redemption, perhaps there was another course he could take... A plan half formed in his mind, Tommy advanced upon Draco, also immobilized and unarmed. If Zabrina could care enough to mate, then she could care enough to watch them fall. If she could love, then she was weak and could thus be broken irreparably, and that, Tommy decided, was the greatest justice of all.

* * *

Earlier, Neville had spent quite a long time waiting to die. He had known it was coming because that had been his duty. Use the muggle weaponry and forge a path for Tommy. Give up your life for this glorious cause, give up your life for the freedom of the oppressed. Only, now Neville realised, he had never wondered what giving up one's life would feel like. He had been so focussed on Zabrina's defeat and Tommy's words that he had forgotten pain, he had lost sight of the torment his friends had endured. And now he had inflicted it on others.

Neville drifted in and out if consciousness. With every moment of clarity he crawled towards the top of the castle, the destruction that the resistances presence had wrought lingered on the edges of his vision. Vague glimpses of death eater corpses shredded amongst pieces of Zabrina's expensive furniture. Something niggled in his mind as he crawled, hampered by his missing legs which had been blown off in the explosion, towards the top of the castle. Towards where Tommy had gone when he stepped over Neville's remains in search of his sister.

Yes, Neville was a weapon, and he was going to make sure he saw this through to the end.

He was going to watch as the Black twins burned.

Zabrina eyed her twin as his attention turned towards her whole heart, what little there was of it. She could not move a muscle and she was surprised by how frightened this made her, a feeling that had not been present in her life for so long. Her brother was powerful, perhaps more powerful even than she. It was not unlikely, they were one after all, one life shared within the walls of Grimmauld place. One youth, forged beneath the wrath of an unhinged mother. One set of DNA passed down from the most terrible, yes the most terrible, but also the greatest wizard who had ever lived.

Voldemort had shaped them, and Zabrina was not a fool, she knew it would still be his name that was passed down through history, his name that they would fear to say, though he was long gone. She knew she had failed, and she knew that the reason why was the blonde man holding their daughter. The man who had tormented her and loved her equally without even realising the difference. Without even knowing the power he had over her, a power she had barely realised herself.

As Tommy raised his wand to point it at Draco and the baby, Zabrina noticed a slight movement behind him. In that moment she didn't even think, she put all thoughts to one side and focused on the only thing that mattered. With a smile of her face that was so rarely seen she wrenched the enchantment from herself, almost rupturing her internal organs with the effort, and threw her body between Tommy's curse and her newborn baby.


End file.
